The 41 Best Control Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on July 17, 2026

Baral, Chief of Compliance | Illustration by Wesley Burt

Do you love dictating the pace of your games? If so, you're looking for a control commander, the master manipulators of the battlefield, the ones who can shut down opponents' strategies and turn the tide of the game in your favor.

I'm running down the best control commanders, analyzing what makes them so powerful, and giving you some tips and tricks for how to make the most of them.

Intrigued? Let’s get started!

What Are Control Commanders in MTG?

Glarb, Calamity's Augur | Illustration by Bram Sels

Control commanders are legends designed to stop your opponents' gameplans, often through removal, stack interaction, and lockdown pieces. They come in a variety of colors, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Blue is the color of counterspells and card draw, making it a popular choice for control players. Black, on the other hand, specializes in removal and discard, while white is all about board wipes and defensive spells.

No matter which colors you choose, the goal of a control commander is always the same: dominate the pace of the game and create board states that are difficult for your opponents to overcome.

#40. Nicol Bolas, the Ravager / Nicol Bolas, the Arisen

The thing that’s most appealing about Nicol Bolas, the Ravager isn’t that it's an overpriced Burglar Rat, but rather that it can transform from one of the best dragons in Magic into a planeswalker that’s ready to take over the board if left unchecked.

#39. Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis

Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis is a 4-color commander deck focused on group hug and politics. Cards like Ghostly Prison or Xyris, the Writhing Storm let you control the board state. In addition, the deck can take over games with cards like Approach of the Second Sun as an alternate wincon.

#38. Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign

A Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign deck is a unique take on control that focuses on using the top of the library to gain advantage and manipulate the game. Yennett's ability to cast spells from the top of the library rewards careful manipulation of the top cards and allows for powerful, unexpected plays. It's definitely an oddball, that's for sure.

#37. Thanos, the Mad Titan

Thanos, the Mad Titan comes with a built-in board wipe, which is perfect to keep your opponent in check. You can only use power-up abilities only, but you can flicker Thanos to reset the ability. It’s also worth noting that five colors is great in a control commander because you have access to every control tool possible, and you can easily outfit your deck to compete in your specific pod.

#36. Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage

Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage is a fun Commander deck that enjoys flashing in historic spells. Pretty straightforward, but playing at instant speed is a hallmark of a good control deck.

#35. Athreos, God of Passage

An Athreos, God of Passage Commander deck is all about playing with your graveyard and making your creatures hard to get rid of. Its ability makes it hard for your opponents to keep your creatures down by sending them back to the hand without paying the toll. You can recycle strong ETB effects like the ones on Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Solemn Simulacrum, or punish your opponents for not giving you your creatures back.

#34. Crystal, Inhuman Princess

Crystal, Inhuman Princess works as a control commander because of its colors. More colors are often better, and it even works as a mana dork to accelerate you and fix your colors. The cast trigger helps to peck away at opposing life totals while you control the board, and it becomes a win condition with a variety of infinite combos.

#33. Kambal, Consul of Allocation

Decks that use Kambal, Consul of Allocation usually run other tax effects like Blind Obedience or Authority of the Consuls to gain life and out-sustain the competition. Additionally, you can run other prison effects like Sphere of Safety and Ghostly Prison and cards that reward you for gaining life like Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose.

#32. Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper

A Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper Commander deck focuses on controlling the board through instants and sorceries while building up a mighty army of land creatures. Its ability to turn lands into creatures provides a unique win condition and allows for unexpected attacks. Key cards in the deck include Terra Eternal  and Planar Outburst, among others.

#31. Aminatou, the Fateshifter

This planeswalker allows you to control the game by flickering permanents. It has a solid ability to manipulate the top card of your library, allowing you to set up powerful plays involving miracle cards like Terminus. They often run a wide density of creatures with powerful enter-the-battlefield abilities, like Archaeomancer and Ravenous Chupacabra, to take advantage of Aminatou's flicker ability.

#30. Ureni, the Song Unending

Ureni, the Song Unending needs flicker effects to function as a control commander. The idea is to ramp it out quickly (with exclusively land-based ramp to maximize its enters trigger), then flicker it to keep the board clear. Ureni also acts as the win condition, though it’s worth considering land-based win conditions like Dark Depths + Thespian's Stage and Field of the Dead to enhance it.

#29. Kess, Dissident Mage

One of Commander's limitations is that you can only run one copy of a given card. Kess, Dissident Mage is a commander that attempts to bypass that rule. You can cast a second copy of your instants and sorceries during your turn, which helps set up powerful combinations; recurring a tutor spell like Demonic Tutor is a big deal.

#28. Damia, Sage of Stone

Damia, Sage of Stone is a powerful commander that provides raw card advantage thanks to its static ability that lets you draw multiple cards per turn. It works exceptionally well with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse because it can bolster your life total every time Damia’s ability triggers.

#27. Jhoira of the Ghitu

Jhoira of the Ghitu is an explosive commander that loves to cheat big spells for free. With cards like Omniscience or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, you can quickly take over games and leave your opponents in the dust.

#26. Mizzix of the Izmagnus

Mizzix of the Izmagnus reduces the cost of your spells based on the number of experience counters you have, allowing you to cast spells nearly for free with enough counters.

Proliferate cards like Experimental Augury or Tezzeret's Gambit work exceptionally well with this commander.

#25. Queen Marchesa

Monarch is an excellent ability that usually gives you a card, and Queen Marchesa will hand you the crown as it enters the battlefield.

If you manage to protect the monarch, it can become a one-sided Howling Mine. But even if you can't, you can keep amassing creatures thanks to Queen Marchesa’s second ability.

#24. Niv-Mizzet, Visionary

Burn effects typically aren’t at their best in Commander. Creatures are bigger, and burning your opponent’s face with cards like Lava Spike isn’t at all a viable strategy. Enter Niv-Mizzet, Visionary, a card that turns Lava Spikes into Ancestral Recalls. Just having a Guttersnipe around means you’ll draw a huge chunk of your deck. With this commander on the field, Boltwave is the cheapest way to draw nine cards ever printed.

#23. Keranos, God of Storms

Keranos, God of Storms is a very oppressive Izzet commander that provides variable bonuses on each of your turns: You're like happy with a free Lightning Bolt or an extra card either way.

#22. Hylda of the Icy Crown

Hylda of the Icy Crown “taps” into a design space that WotC’s been exploring for a while: Azorius () tempo-tap creatures matter, with stun counters and the like. It’s incredibly easy to tap creatures in these colors, be it with white tappers or with artifacts, or with blue creature spells that enter and tap/freeze other creatures. Or just plain old Sleep or Opposition. Either way, Hylda’s doing some work while you're tapping your opponents’ creatures, and just making a 4/4 elemental creature each time already goes a long way.

#21. Namor the Sub-Mariner

Namor the Sub-Mariner takes the same pestersome play pattern people associate with Talrand, Sky Summoner and ramps it up. 1/1s on the ground are worse than 2/2 fliers by a lot, but Namor provides all the evasive damage you need, and merfolk have plenty of other support pieces. It also adds a lot of value to heavy blue-pipped interaction like Invoke the Winds and Cryptic Command.

#20. Yarok, the Desecrated

This elemental commander is all about getting maximum value from your creatures, lands, and spells. With Yarok, the Desecrated on the battlefield, cards like Mulldrifter and Solemn Simulacrum become even more powerful, drawing extra cards and fetching extra lands. Take any ETB you can imagine, double it, and throw in a nice lifelinking body to boot.

#19. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir has to be one of the most annoying commanders to play against. It prevents opponents from casting spells at instant speed, making it difficult for them to respond to your plays. When paired with cards like Counterspell and Cryptic Command, you’ll soon be the target of your table.

#18. Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing

Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing serves as both win condition and removal spell. It’s pretty easy to construct a deck that flickers this every turn, or even multiple times a turn, to keep key threats tucked away for a while. Add repeatable ways to trigger the second ability, like Scroll Rack and Teferi's Puzzle Box (which can be a control win all itself with Narset, Parter of Veils), and you end up with a surprisingly strong mono-blue brew.

#17. Shorikai, Genesis Engine

Shorikai, Genesis Engine is a very interesting stax commander. You can use its activated ability to filter your hand and make a Pilot token. That’s already card advantage, and your commander just stays on the table if your opponents don’t have artifact removal, threatening all manor of infinite combos, and sometimes even attacked as a large threat.

#16. Azami, Lady of Scrolls

Azami, Lady of Scrolls is a powerful wizard who can draw cards simply by tapping wizards you control. The deck includes a variety of wizard creatures and spells to support this strategy, and counterspells and removal to keep the opponents' threats at bay. Additionally, the deck can be built around a combo with Mind Over Matter, allowing you to draw your entire deck.

#15. Glarb, Calamity’s Augur

Glarb, Calamity's Augur stakes its claim as a control commander due to its card advantage. While 4 mana is a lot for interaction, you rarely need to pay that if you draw on cards like Submerge and Snuff Out with alternative costs. Surveiling ups your consistency while enabling cards like Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Treasure Cruise. It pushes you towards graveyard-based win conditions like reanimation or Yawgmoth's Will combo.

#14. Niv-Mizzet, Parun

One of Magic's best spellslinger commanders, Niv-Mizzet, Parun rewards you when you draw cards and deals damage to your opponents in the process. The deck is usually filled with counterspells to protect your board state and also runs plenty of infinite combos with Niv-Mizzet, allowing you to draw your entire deck and burn your opponents out of the game. The most notable interaction is with Curiosity.

#13. The Locust God

The Locust God is a crazy commander that can swarm the board with hordes of Insect tokens while drawing cards like a maniac. With cards like Skullclamp and Kindred Discovery, you can draw tons of cards and pump out an insane number of insect tokens to overwhelm your opponents. Wincons like Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge burn your opponents out. You can always wheel and deal with cards like Windfall and Wheel of Fortune to refill your hand and keep the pressure on.

#12. Brago, King Eternal

Brago, King Eternal is a powerful commander that likes to flicker nonland permanents, creating a ton of value each time it deals combat damage. With a mix of ETB effects and stax pieces, this deck can slow down opponents while building up its board presence, and it plays very well with mana rocks for ramp.

#11. Sen Triplets

Sen Triplets‘ ability to look at opponents' hands and play their cards makes it both one of Magic's strongest theft commanders and one of the best stax commanders. You can pair this commander with other cards like Tasha, the Witch Queen, Xanathar, Guild Kingpin, and Elder Brain to play cards they own and use their resources instead of yours.

#10. Kefka, Court Mage / Kefka, Ruler of Ruin

While Kefka, Ruler of Ruin is a fantastic card, decks built around this commander care more about Kefka, Court Mage to control the game via discard. Flicker Kefka as often as possible to strip your opponents of resources while you get a rebate. Discard payoffs like Monument to Endurance and Waste Not extend your advantage even further.

#9. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic has the best colors for tutors, board wipes, counterspells, and even planeswalkers. What makes it terrifying is that it doesn't need to hit the battlefield to start getting value, and you can outvalue your opponents in no time when you pair it with cards like Sanguine Bond or Well of Lost Dreams.

#8. Ketramose, the New Dawn

Ketramose, the New Dawn draws cards as you send things to exile, yours or your opponents'. With a steady stream of card advantage, you’re going to be a strong player in the late game. Ironically, since you’re paying life to draw that many cards, you’ll probably be weak in the early game, though lifelink helps with that.

#7. Narset, Enlightened Master

Most Narset, Enlightened Masters follow a Voltron theme, but it actually does pretty well in a control shell, particularly if you add tons of Time Warp effects in it.

#6. Zur the Enchanter

One of the most targeted control commanders has to be Zur the Enchanter, a top-tier Esper commander. Opponents have no option but to kill it on sight. Otherwise, it can get out of hand pretty quickly by assembling combos around Stasis, Solitary Confinement, and Necropotence, among others.

#5. Tasigur, the Golden Fang

Tasigur, the Golden Fang is a strong Sultai commander that can help you return cards from your graveyard to your hand, allowing you to reuse powerful control spells. It also comes down cheap thanks to delve, which helps pay for commander tax.

#4. Derevi, Empyrial Tactician

The big appeal of Derevi, Empyrial Tactician is that this amazing Bant card allows you to untap your creatures and lands, giving you more resources to control the game. It also runs lands that can produce multiple mana like Gaea's Cradle and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to take advantage of Derevi's untap ability. The fact that it dodges commander tax also helps its case.

#3. Baral, Chief of Compliance

Baral, Chief of Compliance shares some similarities to Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir control decks in the sense that the same cards can be run in both of them. However, you can set up faster combos with Baral, Chief of Compliance‘s static ability.

Once the game has been sufficiently controlled, the deck can win through various routes like with Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal or through a more traditional win condition like Talrand, Sky Summoner and a host of counterspells to protect it.

#2. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV reduces the cost of your spells and increases the cost of your opponent's spells, making it difficult for them to stay at parity with you. If you pair it with other stax elements like Propaganda, Aura of Silence, or Rhystic Study, you’ll take over the board in no time.

#1. Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed

Y'shtola, Night's Blessed has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame, going from a hotly anticipated commander to one of the top five commanders on EDHREC. It’s often played as a control commander because it represents both win condition and card advantage. It pushes damage, draws cards, and even gains you life so you can survive against the control player longer. Esper is also arguably the best color combination for control, especially if you want tutors to win with combos.

Best Control Commanders Payoffs

There are several payoff cards that can work well with control commanders. These reward you for taking control of the game, often by giving you some sort of advantage or benefit, and in some cases the win.

One popular control payoff card is Approach of the Second Sun. This card’s alternative win condition allows you to claim victory if you cast it twice and it at least resolves the second time. It’s a great way to close out a long, drawn-out game you've been controlling.

Cards like Archmage Emeritus and Archmage of Runes are at their best in blue control or spells-matter decks. Baral, Chief of Compliance is a similar one, making your instants and sorceries cheap and allowing you to loot when you counter your opponents’ spells, which is what you should be doing anyway.

Does Control Work in Commander?

Control can be a very effective strategy in Commander, allowing you to disrupt your opponents' plans and control the game's pace. In fact, many of the top Commander decks are built around a control strategy.

How Many Creatures Should You Put in a Control Commander Deck?

This depends on your commander. For example, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician likes having a bunch of little and elusive creatures in play to control the game, while Narset, Enlightened Master ends games by itself in a deck with no creatures. There's no real number, but control decks generally run fewer creatures than other archetypes. Around 10 creatures is probably what I’d call normal for them.

How Many Lands Should Be in a Commander Control Deck?

A control deck typically wants to hit a land drop every turn and ensure you have enough mana to cast your spells. This is especially important in Commander, where games tend to last longer and you need plenty of resources to stay in the game. Of course, the number of lands in a control deck can vary depending on the specific commander and its mana curve, but a good rule of thumb is to include around 38 to 40 lands.

What Are Some Budget Ways to Play Control in Commander?

One way to keep the price of your control deck down is by focusing on commanders with as few colors as possible to keep the mana base cheap. Commanders like Baral, Chief of Compliance and Niv-Mizzet, Visionary can run off a high basic count, minimizing costs.

Ketramose, the First Dawn

I’m also a fan of flicker-based control commanders like Wan Shi Tong, Librarian and Ketramose, the First Dawn. They often rely on cheap flicker spells like Cloudshift and Blur as both value engines and win condition, so you can invest in other places.

How Does a Control Deck Win?

These decks often win by resolving big spells or pulling off specific combos only available while their commander is out or as a product of controlling the game for the most part.

Commanding Conclusion

Narset, Enlightened Master | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Control commanders can lead powerful and effective strategies in Commander because they allow you to set the rules of the table and impact how the game plays out. Try these out if you enjoy outsmarting your opponents and pulling the strings in the game!

What do you think? Are these the best you’ve heard of, or are there any that you think should be on the list? Let me know in the comments below, or over on the Draftsim Discord. And check out The Daily Upkeep newsletter to stay up to date on all the latest MTG news.

Take care everyone!