Rankings for All 59 Bloomburrow Commanders

Last updated on October 17, 2025

Maha, Its Feathers Night | Illustration by Alessandra Pisano

It’s wild to discuss a new Magic set when the ink’s barely dried on my Assassin’s Creed cards, but it’s already time for Bloomburrow! I grew up reading Redwall books, so I’ve been looking forward to this animal-centric MTG set since its announcement.

Bloomburrow‘s story hit most of the notes I was looking for, so it’s time to turn to the cards, specifically Bloomburrow‘s commanders. What will this new set bring? What new archetypes are opened by our small friends?

Let’s delve into Bloomburrow and learn what new gifts Wizards has given us!

How Many Commanders Are There in Bloomburrow?

Byrke, Long Ear of the Law | Illustratio by Manuel Castañón

Bloomburrow and its supplemental Commander set have a total of 59 commanders, with 25 in the main set (with the BLB code) and 24 outside of it (this includes Flubs, the Fool, which is a box promo with the BLC code). Of these 59, 24 are reprints from past sets.

These numbers are pretty different compared to Assassin’s Creed, which had 37 commanders, while Outlaws of Thunder Junction had 75.

This discrepancy does make sense. Assassin’s Creed is a smaller set, limiting the available space for new cards. Meanwhile, OTJ had a strong focus on legendary creatures, with all of the Limited format’s signpost uncommons being legendaries.

All things considered, Bloomburrow has about an average number of commanders in the new, Commander-focused era of Magic play design we live in.

Before we start, I want to explain how I ranked these Bloomburrow commanders. I primarily look for cards with high impact and low mana costs. The best game actions you can take in Commander are ramping and drawing cards, so commanders that do either or both rank highly.

The new commanders have an additional hurdle: I compare them to their peers in whatever archetype they were designed for. Commanders that either open a new archetype or do something really interesting within an established archetype go higher on the list. A commander doesn’t need to be stronger than an existing commander in the same archetype if it does something interesting. But commanders who are weaker and don’t add anything new get knocked down.

#59. Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni

Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni just isn’t a viable commander. Sneaking this card into play via ninjutsu is cool, but that doesn’t even work from the command zone, so this is just a slow 6-mana commander your opponents see coming from a mile away. Keep this in the 99 and look elsewhere for a reanimation or ninja commander.

#58. Baird, Steward of Argive

Baird, Steward of Argive falls well short of what I want from a commander. Ghostly Prison at home isn’t worth the slot. This could be a funny commander if you know your playgroup always plays token decks or Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combos, but I can’t see a reason to play this outside those super narrow metagame calls.

#57. Loran of the Third Path

I don’t think I’ve built a white EDH or Brawl deck that didn’t include Loran of the Third Path in the 99, but I don’t want it as a commander. It could be a cute metagame call to shred that one Go-Shintai of Life's Origin player, but you can do much better for mono-white flicker commanders, like Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines or Preston, the Vanisher.

#56. Etali, Primal Storm

Etali, Primal Storm is just too slow to cut it as a commander these days. A 6-mana creature that must survive a turn cycle to have an impact doesn’t line up with the current format, especially since this elder dinosaur can whiff!

Cards like Crashing Drawbridge and Otepec Huntmaster can mitigate this by giving the dinosaur haste, but I’m not impressed.

#55. Arasta of the Endless Web

Arasta of the Endless Web makes a surprising amount of tokens for its mana cost. That surprising number can become quite threatening if you deploy a few token doublers like Parallel Lives and Doubling Season.

That said, you don’t have great payoffs. Craterhoof Behemoth and other Overrun effects can end the game and you can use cards like Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury and Shamanic Revelation to draw a bunch of extra cards, but those are incredibly generic and don’t reward you for making a bunch of spiders. Arasta’s not bad; I just don’t see a compelling reason to play it.

#54. Jazal Goldmane

Jazal Goldmane could top the curve of an aggressive mono-white deck. The activated ability serves as a powerful finisher once you flood the board with tokens, thanks to Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and Reverent Hoplite. You can even activate it multiple times! It’s neither particularly powerful nor exciting as a mono-white token commander, but I can see why you’d run it.

#53. Kitsa, Otterball Elite

Merfolk Looter has come a long way in 20 years. I don’t hate Kitsa, Otterball Elite as a card, and it's great in Bloomburrow Sealed or Draft, but it’s severely lacking as a commander. There’s plenty of value here, especially with that cheap spell-copy ability, but I’d rather put that ability to use in the 99 of a commander like Niv-Mizzet, Parun or Narset, Enlightened Exile. Smoothing out your draws via looting doesn’t make up for being super low impact.

#52. Mabel, Heir to Cragflame

Mabel, Heir to Cragflame was a fantastic protagonist in the Bloomburrow story but doesn’t quite hit the same notes as a Boros commander. Mice just don’t have the support to build a deck around. Cragflame is okay equipment, but not worth the card. I look forward to Mabel’s role in Cube and Standard, but I’ll pass on putting this mouse commander in the command zone.

#51. Finneas, Ace Archer

Finneas, Ace Archer doesn’t excite me. It’s another commander that has entered an already-crowded line-up of tokens and counter decks in Selesnya (). It buffs your team, especially with cards like Escape Tunnel and Whispersilk Cloak to let it keep attacking, and cheap commanders are valuable. But this one doesn’t seem particularly innovative or powerful, and we’ll forget about it when the next set drops in two weeks.

#50. Beza, the Bounding Spring

Fun fact: Wizards changed “enters the battlefield” to “enters” to fit all the text on Beza, the Bounding Spring.

Though Beza offers incredible rewards, getting them is problematic. Getting the full value from this white commander‘s enters ability requires a losing board state. And I don’t think it turns the game in your favor from that point. Getting a Treasure token won’t make up for a significant mana disadvantage, nor would 4 life in many situations.

Beza will wreck house in Bloomburrow Limited, may be one of the best BLB cards in Standard, and might play well out of the 99 of commanders like Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis that can engineer that losing board state, but I don’t see much hope for it in the command zone.

#49. Byrke, Long Ear of the Law

Byrke, Long Ear of the Law is absolutely acceptable as a +1/+1 counter commander. It provides immediate value that’s easily compounded by cards like Doubling Season and Pir, Imaginative Rascal. It also does nothing to distinguish itself from the other dozen counter-focused Selesnya commanders. There’s nothing to get excited about here—just another drop in an overflowing bucket.

#48. Zoraline, Cosmos Caller

Zoraline, Cosmos Caller strikes me as the kind of bat commander you fiddle around with and get some sweet value from before realizing that you’re playing with small permanents while your opponents slam Etali, Primal Conqueror and various Eldrazi. This bat cleric can get some sweet control value going with cards like Seal of Doom and Executioner's Capsule, but I think this Orzhov commander has an unfortunately low cap on its power.

#47. Camellia, the Seedmiser

Camellia, the Seedmiser suffers from being second-best. Combining Food and Squirrels into one archetype is cute. Producing board presence via forage is a great payoff for cracking Food and buffing your team is a great payoff for filling the deck with squirrels. But Chatterfang, Squirrel General is leagues better as a squirrel commander and Ygra, Eater of All promises to revolutionize the Food archetype, so I don’t see Camilla doing much but supporting those stronger commanders.

#46. Clement, the Worrywort

Clement, the Worrywort looks like it wants to be an enters deck, but needing to recast the creatures you bounce makes it far worse than many UW flicker options. There’s combo potential. Shrieking Drake, Ornithopter, and Intruder Alarm generate infinite casts/enters triggers for cards like Beast Whisperer and Sage's Row Denizen, as well as infinite creature-only mana.

While that combo is cool, it’s about as clunky as bouncing and recasting your enters targets, which makes me suspect this Simic commander might just be, well, clunky and slow.

#45. Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker

Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker can be a formidable threat right as an Azorius commander. Those counters add up quickly, especially if you slap down Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion or something similar.

I think this pairs best with partner commanders that either add card advantage (Tymna the Weaver) or access to colors with ramp (Jeska, Thrice Reborn or Reyhan, Last of the Abzan). Adding blue makes this an especially appealing partner to utilize in the command zone.

#44. Eluge, the Shoreless Sea

While plenty of cost reducers affect instants and sorceries, Eluge, the Shoreless Sea adds an interesting element as it can reduce costs by or ; most cost reducers don’t affect colored costs. It could be an excellent blue commander for a storm deck or just general spellslinger value by discounting cards like Nexus of Fate and Mnemonic Deluge.

The only hesitation I have about this compared to, say, Baral, Chief of Compliance is speed. It takes a few turns for this elemental fish to get going, though cards like Goldberry, River-Daughter and Aquitect's Will help speed things along.

#43. Lumra, Bellow of the Woods

These days, 6-mana creatures need a lot of impact in Commander. Lumra, Bellow of the Woods comes prepared with a huge body, self-mill, and impressive ramp. You’ll want to load up on ways to get lands into your graveyard, including fetch lands, self-mill cards, and ways to sacrifice lands like Harrow and Sylvan Safekeeper.

While Lumra is a powerful card, being a mono-green commander makes it a bit too limited for my taste. I imagine it has a home in 99 of GBx decks rather than the command zone. This will shine in Muldrotha, the Gravetide or Coram, the Undertaker.

#42. The Odd Acorn Gang

The Odd Acorn Gang is a commander. Using a bunch of Squirrel tokens to make one or two squirrels into serious threats is an interesting payoff. With enough untap effects like Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler and Quirion Ranger, it could be quite threatening.

It feels flexible, too; the buff ability plus this commander’s keywords suggest a Voltron strategy, but the latter ability rewards you for going wide. I’m not super excited by it, but I’m curious to see how players utilize it.

#41. Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive

Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive sneaks creatures with low power or toughness through your opponents' defenses by making them unblockable. Creatures that draw cards when they deal damage like Tandem Lookout and Library Larcenist are a fantastic exploit for this.

But why stop with drawing a few cards? Let’s get toxic and throw in some infect cards like Plague Myr and Necropede! Blue has plenty of great proliferate cards to push the poison along. I really like this blue commander. It uses some pretty niche synergies in an interesting package.

#40. Dragonhawk, Fate’s Tempest

The first thing I noticed about Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest is the lack of a fail case. The cards it exiles provide some value, even if you can't cast them. Depending on the board, 2 direct damage to each opponent might be better than casting a random Arcane Signet or something.

But being a mono-red commander makes me hesitate to call this bird dragon great. Mono-colored commanders greatly restrict the tools available to you, so they need to supply lots of power to make up for it, and Dragonhawk doesn't get there for me. I’d be all over this if it were a Gruul commander, but as a mono-red, it falls just shy of exciting me.

#39. Kodama of the East Tree

Kodama of the East Tree can be a potent partner to add to the command zone. You can whip up all sorts of infinite combos with Kodama and a bounce land, with a notable one being Scute Swarm and Simic Growth Chamber. Sakashima of a Thousand Faces is an excellent partner for Kodama to double up on triggers, but I like Tymna the Weaver. It gives you a cheap play and introduces additional combos with cards like Restoration Angel and Felidar Guardian.

#38. Rishkar, Peema Renegade

Most +1/+1 counter commanders spread a bunch of counters across the team or double the counters you put on creatures. Rishkar, Peema Renegade offers a different reward: mana. Turning all your creatures into mana dorks sets up some explosive turns, especially paired with green’s big card draw spells like Last March of the Ents and Rishkar's Expertise. Or, you could pour that mana into Genesis Wave and see how much of your deck you can put into play.

#37. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma

Magic's best bear, Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma provides an incredible cost reduction. Green heavily rewards you for playing big creatures, often in card advantage through cards like Garruk's Packleader and Vaultborn Tyrant. These big creatures are crucial for green’s removal, which takes the form of fight and punch spells like Hard-Hitting Question and Prey Upon. The attack buff helps turn the corner and finish things off, giving Goreclaw relevance early to build a board and late to win the game.

#36. Grumgully, the Generous

Grumgully, the Generous is a perfectly acceptable +1/+1 counter commander. It’s pretty cheap, and the non-human clause is barely a restriction. Gruul () has plenty of cards to synergize with them, including but not limited to All Will Be One, Akki Battle Squad, and Uncivil Unrest. If you want to play an aggressive, counter-focused commander without going to Selesnya, this is an excellent choice.

#35. Bria, Riptide Rogue

Bria, Riptide Rogue is a neat little card. I like giving the team prowess. An Izzet commander () has access to great token production in cards like Third Path Iconoclast, Talrand, Sky Summoner, and Shark Typhoon, and Bria, Riptide Rogue makes these tokens formidable.

But I fear this otter rogue is completely overshadowed as a commander by Narset, Enlightened Exile; it has the same base payoff with a much stronger second ability and better colors for the strategy. I see no reason to play Bria over Narset outside of personal taste, which takes it down several notches.

#34. Toski, Bearer of Secrets

While Toski, Bearer of Secrets is a green staple for the 99, I’m less impressed with it in the command zone. You can still do some neat tricks with this uncounterable commander. It plays beautifully with Lure to let your other creatures get in for damage and card draw. Since it’s indestructible, Toski makes for a fine Voltron commander to suit up with Colossification, Blackblade Reforged, and other impressive buffs.

#33. Arthur, Marigold Knight

Look, it’s Winota, Joiner of Forces at home!

Arthur, Marigold Knight is a fine commander. Jeskai () decks have plenty of exciting creatures to drop into play. Since the creature returns to your hand, you should focus on cards like Agent of Treachery, Skyclave Apparition, and Cloudblazer with powerful enters abilities. Maze of Ith and Reconnaissance enable you to attack into unfavorable board states.

#32. Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse

I’ve always enjoyed Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse. Drawing cards is good, making Cat tokens is adorable, and throwing giant felines at my opponents is my idea of a good time. Green has plenty of tools to trigger Jolrael, from Up the Beanstalk and Wilt to Regal Behemoth and Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury. You’ll have no trouble keeping up a full hand to get the most from the activated ability.

#31. Hugs, Gristly Guardian

The latest addition to the cast from exile club is Hugs, Grisly Guardian. Those decks generally want to ramp, ramp, and ramp some more to exploit their card advantage. Hugs plays into this plan well, acting as Commune with Lava in the command zone.

Even if you must play it early to stave off aggression, the Exploration tacked onto this badger warrior‘s fearsome body helps the game plan. I don’t think it’s better than having a payoff like Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald or Prosper, Tome-Bound in the command zone, but Hugs, Grisly Guardian is nonetheless respectable.

#30. Vren, the Relentless

Vren, the Relentless provides an intriguing twist to rat decks. It just makes Relentless Rats! Not only does it provide a powerful payoff, but a Dimir commander also gives you access to blue cards.

Blue is Magic’s best color, but more importantly, it has the two best typal support cards in EDH: Kindred Discovery and Reflections of Littjara. And it’s a stax piece that rewards you for removing opposing threats!

#29. Kwain, Itinerant Meddler

Kwain, Itinerant Meddler makes a perfect group hug commander. It’s basically Howling Mine in the command zone—and other similar effects, like Dictate of Kruphix and Kami of the Crescent Moon, should make the cut to give away all the cards.

Your opponents will love the card advantage so much they won’t want to attack you!

Of course, even group hug decks should try to win. You can make use of all this card draw with cards like Psychosis Crawler and Proft's Eidetic Memory to throw counters and damage around. Minn, Wily Illusionist and Chasm Skulker pump out or become threats that get better the more cards you draw.

#28.  Kastral, the Windcrested

Kastral, the Windcrested looks like one of Bloomburrow‘s better typal commanders.

Birds are relatively niche, but these modes are fantastic. You know you have a winner when you can default to drawing three cards. It faces some stiff competition from Azorius () flying commanders like Kangee, Sky Warden that don’t restrict you to just birds, but I think this payoff is strong enough to compete. Don’t forget your changelings!

#27. Grothama, All-Devouring

Grothama, All-Devouring gets all the points for a compellingly unique design. You want to fight Grothama with big creatures like Ghalta, Primal Hunger and Mossbridge Troll to kill it and draw bursts of cards. You can get even more value from the fights with cards like Stuffy Doll and Saber Ants. The deck gets silly once you start utilizing power doublers like The Skullspore Nexus and Unnatural Growth. It might not be the best green commander, but it’s one of the most interesting.

#26. Selvala, Explorer Returned

Selvala, Explorer Returned has that critical combination of ramp and card draw, tempered by giving your opponents some card advantage as well. Which is honestly fantastic. When everybody’s drawing cards, things happen, and it decreases the odds of one player sitting out because they draw too few or too many mana sources.

Cards like Instill Energy and Quirion Ranger are essential to getting multiple Selvala triggers a turn. Don’t forget Smothering Tithe to abuse the forced draw.

#25. Hazel of the Rootbloom

Oh my, that ability makes a ton of mana. Hazel of the Rootbloom, the Golgari commander heading the Squirreled Away Bloomburrow Commander precon, rewards the aspiring token player with more mana than they’ll know what to do with. Pairing Skullclamp with all those 1/1 tokens is likely a fine starting point. I like the last ability, but if you slap this in the command zone, it’s for the mana.

#24. Beledros Witherbloom

Beledros Witherbloom starts strong by doubling your mana. The steady stream of Pest tokens enables sacrifice synergies by providing fodder for cards like Wight of the Reliquary and Ashnod's Altar. The deck produces tons of mana you can feed into X spells like Torment of Hailfire and Genesis Wave, or you can take the classic route of jamming Eldrazi titans. You get to do all the big mana things with this elder dragon.

#23. Wildsear, Scouring Maw

Wildsear, Scouring Maw intrigues me. You rarely see enchantress payoffs outside of Selesnya (), making Wildsear unique. Red offers some powerful enchantments like City on Fire and Aggravated Assault that enable a more aggressive strategy compared to the often-controlling enchantress decks.

I don’t know that cascade is a payoff worth turning away from white’s enchantment support, but it’s worth examining and testing. The Naya () saga commanders from Assassin’s Creed will love this.

#22. Mangara, the Diplomat

Mangara, the Diplomat can be a powerful source of card advantage. Commander’s all about ramping and card draw, so most players cast multiple spells a turn later in the game. Cards like Trouble in Pairs and Archivist of Oghma let you profit off your opponents' game actions even more.

You can wrap up the game with big white creatures like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Sun Titan or take a spicier route with infinite combos like Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Walking Ballista.

#21. Zinnia, Valley’s Voice

The bird commander leading the Family Matters Commander Precon, Zinnia, Valley's Voice does its best work alongside cost reducers like Grand Arbiter Augustin IV to minimize the offspring cost.

I expect Zinnia to work well with ETB creatures like Aether Channeler and Inferno Titan, though the idea of accruing tons of triggers from the likes of Salvation Colossus and Charismatic Conqueror seems like another excellent angle for this Jeskai commander.

#20. Ms. Bumbleflower

There’s nothing more relaxing than a nice cup of tea and maybe a slice of Carrot Cake. Ms. Bumbleflower encapsulates this cozy café setting as a group hug commander. Once you’ve buttered up your opponents with cards from its triggered ability, plus other group hug cards like Rites of Flourishing, you can lean on Bant’s () powerful counter synergies to close out the game.

Ms. Bumbleflower, the face commander from the Peace Offering Commander precon, strikes me as a really exciting group hug commander. Nobody turns down free cards in EDH, and you should get the better end of the deal, especially if you reliably cast two spells a turn. I also appreciate the nod towards Bloomburrow‘s gift mechanic without making our rabbit commander dependent on an under-supported mechanic.

#19. Ghalta, Primal Hunger

This is a work of art. Ghalta, Primal Hunger captures the flavor of what a mono-green commander should be on a, well, primal level. You want all the big green creatures like Gigantosaurus and Steel Leaf Champion to play Ghalta as soon as possible. Once it’s out, cards like Last March of the Ents and Rishkar's Expertise bury your opponents in card advantage.

#18. Gev, Scaled Scorch

Magic's best lizard, Gev, Scaled Scorch puts a good foot forward as a nasty little aggro commander. All Will Be One can be a great way to get extra value from those +1/+1 counters. Be sure to load up on pingers like Firebrand Archer and Sanctum of Stone Fangs to hit all your opponents at once so your creatures enter with three +1/+1 counters. This is a really cool exploit for this aggressive lizard commander.

#17. Wick, the Whirled Mind

I knew that Bloomburrow would introduce some niche creature types, but I didn’t have snail typal on my bingo card.

Wick, the Whorled Mind wants you to pump up a snail for future card advantage and damage. I’d lean on changelings along with anthems to speed things along since the snails it creates grow super slowly. I don’t know how powerful this Grixis commander will be, but it’s going to be interesting at the very least.

#16. Glarb, Calamity’s Augur

Glarb, Calamity's Augur would be a fine card without the surveil ability. But with it, it's a powerhouse.

The traditional weakness of these restrictive Future Sight effects that let you play cards from the top of your library is seeing cards you actually can’t play. Glarb minimizes its biggest flaw while fueling graveyard synergies. This corrupt king isn’t particularly flashy or game-warping, but a cheap, reliable source of card advantage and synergy makes it an excellent Sultai commander.

#15. Mr. Foxglove

Mr. Foxglove can be a source of card advantage, but let’s be real: Anyone playing this fox wants to dump big creatures into play for little to no cost.

Haymakers like Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, and Archon of Valor's Reach are just a few juicy targets. A couple of haste enablers like Lightning Greaves and Crashing Drawbridge are essential so you don’t need to rely on this card to survive a turn cycle.

#14. Alania, Divergent Storm

Alania, Divergent Storm has epic flavor text paired with an even greater ability.

It’s important to note that this otter commander‘s ability allows you to copy an instant and a sorcery (and an otter, though that matters less) each turn. Doubling up on Seething Song into Lock and Load seems like a fantastic way to start a combo turn. You could take all the turns by doubling up on Time Warp and Nexus of Fate. These ideas barely scratch the surface of what Alania, Divergent Storm can do! You go so far over the top of your opponents that the extra cards you give them won’t matter.

#13. Bello, Bard of the Brambles

I’ve long thought that Gruul () has some of the most interesting commanders in the format, and Bello, Bard of the Brambles, the raccoon commander from the Animated Army EDH precon, only strengthens the thought. Animating your expensive artifacts and enchantments is a fantastic payoff. This raccoon bard even gets you card advantage to go with the pressure generated by turning cards like Elven Chorus, Court of Ire, and The One Ring into threats.

#12. Baylen, the Haymaker

I really like Baylen, the Haymaker. Most token commanders either create more tokens or make your tokens big. Baylen creates a different value engine as a commander, providing a novel twist on the classic archetype.

Seedborn Muse and Drumbellower make this Naya commander sing with value. Turning Baylen into a threat while retaining a token army gives the deck a way to close out the game. Is it better than “create more tokens” or “tokens get big?” Perhaps not, but I like its spirit and its pun.

#11. Flubs, the Fool

2024 almost certainly can’t give us a more charming commander than Flubs, the Fool. I won’t pretend to understand the card, but I love it dearly.

Flubs, the Fool Commander decks want to utilize graveyard synergies, that’s for sure; Flubs loads the yard for cards like Underworld Breach and Mizzix's Mastery with ease. I bet it plays nicely with cast-from-exile synergies, so that you draw cards that don’t go to your hand. I’m super excited to play against this Temur commander and see what players come up with!

#10. The Infamous Cruelclaw

Who doesn’t love casting spells for free? The Infamous Cruelclaw lets you cast massive spells like Breach the Multiverse and Archon of Cruelty for free. Discarding cards is barely a cost, especially with cards like Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and Containment Construct that turn it into card advantage. If you bias towards big creatures worthy of reanimation, Cruelclaw can become a double enabler, casting battlecruisers for free or discarding them to Reanimate later.

#9. Muerra, Trash Tactician

Muerra, Trash Tactician looks like he’s having a fantastic time, and I expect playing it to be just as fun. This Bloomburrow commander has incredible snowball potential—spending 8 mana in a single turn means you have, well, lots of mana, so you should be able to cast both spells exiled off Muerra, which increases the odds of getting another two cards to cast the following turn, and so on. Since you’re casting these spells from exile, cards like Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald and Passionate Archaeologist give the deck some extra oomph. This commander offers a lot of card advantage for its relatively slim mana cost.

#8. Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician breaks one of the fundamental rules of Commander: commander tax.

You only need to bump amazing Bant card‘s cost by 1, no matter how many times it dies. In fact, using the ability might be better than casting Deveri as a 3-drop since it skirts counterspells.

Once you get this Bant commander in play, it offers unchecked value. You can assemble a handful of infinite combos with cards like Bloom Tender and Deadeye Navigator or play a clean game with multiple activations from cards like The One Ring and Yisan, the Wanderer Bard.

#7. Kykar, Wind’s Fury

Kykar, Wind's Fury utilizes play patterns similar to storm decks, using cards like Jeskai Ascendancy and Whirlwind of Thought to fuel explosive turns that blitz through your opponents with the likes of Warleader's Call and Guttersnipe.

Even if all that direct damage doesn’t end things, an extra turn spell plus all those Spirit tokens should wrap things up nicely.

#6. Helga, Skittish Seer

The two most important resources in Commander are card advantage and ramp. Helga, Skittish Seer brings them both into one card! There’s no way the cheap Simic creature () that fills both functions could be broken, is there?

Jokes aside, I doubt Helga will be the next Nadu, Winged Wisdom, but this is a fantastic Simic commander. Restricting the card draw to creatures with mana value 4+ doesn’t really matter; that’s what you want to cast anyway. If you want a generic value commander that goes brrrr, Helga’s your frog.

#5. The Gitrog Monster

One of the greatest commanders to ever crawl from the swamps of Shadows over Innistrad, The Gitrog Monster combines ramp and card advantage into one potent package. This frog commander will draw you approximately a billion cards by dumping lands in the graveyard, whether it’s by discarding them with Noose Constrictor, sacrificing them to Sylvan Safekeeper, or milling them with The Mending of Dominaria and Wrenn and Seven. Cards like Titania, Protector of Argoth and Lord of Extinction serve as powerful payoffs for this strategy.

#4. Ygra, Eater of All

Whatever else may come from Bloomburrow, I’ll always be grateful for it bringing me the Golgari commander () of my dreams. I’ve fiddled around endlessly with Food decks and always come up short, but Ygra, Eater of All gives the archetype some bite by melding Food synergies like Savvy Hunter with Golgari’s already-present aristocrat strategies.

You can perform so many neat tricks with this elemental cat. Druid of Purification becomes way more interesting when all creatures are artifacts. I can’t wait to chuck Viridian Revel and Fleshbag Marauder together.

And Ygra becomes a terrifying threat as this happens.

And the apex predator of apex predators turns everything else into food? A flavor win. Ygra, Eater of All might be my favorite card design in 2024.

#3. Marrow-Gnawer

As excited as I am to see what Vren, the Relentless does for rat-typal decks in Commander, I have no doubt that Marrow-Gnawer will remain the best commander for the archetype. It just spirals out of control, building a dominant board state with relatively little material. Throw in a Coat of Arms and sink your opponents beneath your plague of rats.

#2. Maha, Its Feathers Night

Few commanders in this set have the oppressive aura of Maha, Its Feathers Night. A most players seem to agree on this, as Maha's one of Bloomburrow priciest cards.

Toss in Night of Souls' Betrayal, Kaervek, the Spiteful, or Ascendant Evincar and your opponents won’t have a board. Even if you don’t stick a permanent debuff, Toxic Deluge and similar wraths spike in value. Massacre Girl, Known Killer and Syr Konrad, the Grim can abuse all this death to draw cards and obliterate life totals.

This black commander is a nightmare for any creature-based strategy and a frontrunner for my favorite flavor text in the set.

#1. Chatterfang, Squirrel General

Bloomburrow has introduced a variety of new squirrel-typal support cards along with some new commanders, but Chatterfang, Squirrel General reigns supreme.

This creature wins games through its fearsome token-doubling ability alone. If that's not enough power for you, it's part of many infinite combos, typically utilizing Pitiless Plunderer. You don’t even need other squirrel synergies, just reliable token production (though Camellia, the Seedmiser looks like a fantastic addition). And the Imagine: Courageous Critters version just looks great!

Commanding Conclusion

Marrow-Gnawer | Illustration by Jenn Ravenna

I can’t wait to see what commanders from Bloomburrow take off in the coming weeks. I’ve already brewed up Ygra and Maha and can’t wait to take them for a spin. Bloomburrow has a healthy mix of powerful, archetype-opening commanders and legends that will supplement existing strategies.

Which commanders from Bloomburrow are you brewing? Which commander is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!