The 5 Best Commanders of 2026 So Far

Last updated on July 3, 2026

Ashling, the Limitless | Illustration by Kai Carpenter

2026 has been a year for Commander, with four sets already out and the set with the most commanders ever. These five commanders are among the best the year has offered so far and seem likely to remain relevant rather than getting forgotten like the umpteenth Captain America.

Ashling, the Limitless

Ashling, the Limitless is currently the most popular commander of the year on EDHrec, and it’s not hard to see why: It’s a five-color commander for a popular creature type, and giving your elementals evoke has so much potential.

The simplest payoff is using it to evoke big elementals for cheap—Maelstrom Wanderer on turn 4, a cheap Bane of Progess to disrupt the artifact player, Shroudstomper for a value play.

Use Cloudshift or another flicker spell to keep the big elemental, evoke Grave Sifter and stack the triggers so it returns itself to your hand, or use token doublers like Elspeth, Storm Slayer. If you thought one Avenger of Zendikar trigger was good, why not two?

Killian, Decisive Mentor

Killian, Decisive Mentor expands a space Wizards has toyed with recently: Orzhov () auras that interact with your opponents. It uses the lovely goad text to make your opponents attack each other and throws in a sprinkle of card draw.

Orzhov doesn’t hurt for aura support, with cards like Pearl-Ear, Imperial Advisor and Kor Spiritdancer sneaking in more card advantage. There’s even Eriette of the Charmed Apple and many auras that goad opposing creatures to support this specific sub-theme.

The coolest thing about Killian, in my mind, is the flexibility. Because you don’t need to control the enchanted creature to draw cards, you can take a group hug angle where you throw cards like All That Glitters on opposing creatures. You’re also rewarded for spreading auras around. It’s certainly more interesting than yet another Voltron commander.

Maralen, Fae Ascendant

A dual-typal commander is so interesting. Maralen, Fae Ascendant is Lorwyn Eclipsed’s second most popular commander, just behind Ashling, because it boasts incredible flexibility. Which archetype do you build around?

Giving elves, an archetype that create obscene amounts of mana with dorks like Priest of Titania and Circle of Dreams Druid unfettered access to Magic’s best card draw seems…irresponsible.

That said, faeries loves casting spells on its opponents’ turns, which green’s ramp supports beautifully, especially with land untappers like Seedborn Muse and Wilderness Reclamation.

Then the midrange route that focuses on high-floor cards; do you really need typal support when cards like Bloom Tender, Faerie Mastermind, and Formidable Speaker cantrip when they enter?

Silverquill, the Disputant

Silverquill, the Disputant stood out from Secrets of Strixhaven as Orzhov’s only real spellslinger commander; it simply isn’t something the color pair dabbles with. But giving your instants and sorceries casualty 1 is the perfect payoff.

The first step is making tokens to sacrifice. You want these from instants and sorceries like Lingering Souls and Will of the Mardu as they stack very well; the first lets you copy the second, and so on. Creatures like Sedgemoor Witch also support this.

You have no shortage of win conditions. Perhaps you lean into casualty, and copy X-spells like Exsanguinate. Or you could lean into aristocrats, with Blood Artist and the like. The simplest answer would be doubling every token spell you can find, and dropping a Moonshaker Cavalry.

Witherbloom, the Balancer

Witherbloom, the Balancer exists in a similar space to Silverquill as it brings spellslinger to a color pair that typically doesn’t run it, but there’s a glaring gap in power: Witherbloom’s affinity ability is far stronger, which is probably why it’s SOS most popular commander.

Like Silverquill, you want instants and sorceries that make creatures. Sprout Swarm is big as it goes infinite with Witherbloom, but it’s far from the only option; Awaken the Woods and Pest Infestation also get you started.

Then you just need big instants and sorceries to exploit Witherbloom’s affinity. An overly large Torment of Hailfire or a fast Breach the Multiverse are just a few tools as this commander’s disposal.