The 30 Best Elemental Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on February 10, 2026

Omnath, Locus of the Roil | Illustration by Lius Lasahido

Elemental is a well-supported creature type in MTG, with sets like Lorwyn, M20, and Lorwyn Eclipsed focusing on them, as well as good elemental-themed Commander precons. In the past, we had few options for elemental 5-color commanders, like Horde of Notions and Morophon, the Boundless, and very few elemental legends in general. That number has risen over the last few years, so it’s time we revisit the best elemental commanders MTG has to offer. Let’s dive in!

What Are Elemental Commanders in MTG?

Ashling, the Limitless | Illustration by Kai Carpenter

Elemental commanders in MTG are legendary creatures with the creature type elemental. I’m not only considering commanders that can be good elemental typal commanders, but any legendary elemental that can be a commander. That means we can have Omnath, Locus of the Roil, Yarok, the Desecrated, and Titania, Nature's Force all represented here. These cards need to have the creature type elemental, so I’ll make a special consideration for good non-elemental legends that can be good elemental commanders due to their abilities and synergies.

#30. Yargle and Multani

Yargle and Multani lives and dies by its printed power. Many green and black spells allow us to sacrifice a creature and obtain benefits equal to its power, so you can draw loads of cards, or cheat big creatures like Ghalta, Primal Hunger into play. Berserk and Essence Harvest work very well here, too.

#29. Marath, Will of the Wild

Marath, Will of the Wild is one of the original commanders that gets stronger as you cast it more, synergizing with the commander tax. The main draw is that we can put more +1/+1 counters on Marath and take them off to create X/X elementals, buff creatures, or deal damage. Regardless, you’ll want to build around +1/+1 counters synergies first to get the most out of your commander. Elemental synergies help too, because we have an elemental commander that makes elemental tokens.

#28. Omnath, Locus of Mana

For some time, Omnath, Locus of Mana was the best mono-green commander. It’s cheap to cast, and you can store unspent green mana, growing Omnath in the process. So you can simply turn all your forests sideways, add some green mana, and attack with a 6/6 commander or so. It’s excellent with cards that make you untap your permanents every turn, or that double up mana production—hi Nissa, Who Shakes the World.  

#27. Titania, Protector of Argoth

Titania, Protector of Argoth is a Crucible of Worlds build-around card. Each time you sacrifice a land, you get a 5/3. This card is a natural playoff for many engines in MTG that require sacrificing a land each turn. The only problem here is being an underwhelming commander when you don’t have the necessary pieces in play.

#26. Morophon, the Boundless

Morophon, the Boundless is the classic Jack-of-all-trades commander, and technically an elemental. It’s best if you have five colors of creatures from the same type, or if you have a lot of gold cards. It’s excellent for unsupported creature types, and in the case of elementals, it’s excellent when you can play cards like Horde of Notions or Mass of Mysteries for free. It’s a good mana fixer, so you can invest heavily in colorless ramp and use your commander to fix colored mana.

#25. Titania, Nature’s Force

Titania, Nature's Force is an elemental that creates 5/3 elementals, so that helps to build a focused typal deck. I like that the abilities on this commander are very synergistic. Play a forest, get a 5/3. When an elemental dies, you mill three cards, which helps you keep playing forests from your graveyard. This commander also works well with cards like Cultivate or Harrow.

#24. Omnath, Locus of Rage

Omnath, Locus of Rage is expensive at 7 mana, but it has interesting abilities to compensate. Each landfall trigger gives you a 5/5 elemental, and when any elemental dies, you get to bolt something. When you can immediately cast this card and follow it with a land, you already have two 5/5s. Evoking elementals with this card around gives you an extra effect when sacrificing the evoked elementals. But the most important aspect of this commander is the landfall ability, so any effect that allows us to play more land is welcome.

#23. Eluge, the Shoreless Sea

Eluge, the Shoreless Sea is fun to build around because it scales linearly with the game and the number of lands you control. You’ll need to choose between making their lands islands, which will mess with their mana and help your islandwalk creatures, or reduce your spell costs. It’s an excellent ssland-matter commander because you can turn utility lands into islands and your Flow of Knowledge will be great. Sometimes, you’ll focus heavily on your lands and get a huge mana discount on spells; playing 4- or 5-mana value instants or flash cards on your opponents’ turns is nasty.

#22. Eris, Roar of the Storm

Eris, Roar of the Storm is a very solid commander as a 4/4 flying prowess that creates 4/4 flying and prowess dragons. That’s an excellent payoff for casting two spells a turn (the flurry mechanic). A card like Twinflame Travelers here is excellent, doubling the prowess triggers and the flurry trigger, giving you very explosive turns.

But there’s some tension here with the costs of instants and sorceries, as you want at least three different mana values among spells in your graveyard so your commander’s mana value is discounted by 6, but you want them to be as cheap as possible. That can be horrible if your commander and your graveyard’s wiped out, considering that you lose your discount and have to pay commander tax on top.

#21. Omnath, Locus of the Roil

Here, we have an Omnath design that’s specifically an elementals build-around card. Omnath, Locus of the Roil already enters the battlefield with a removal effect based on the number of elementals you control, so you’ll want to build around that. What’s more, by playing lands you’ll buff some elemental you control and sometimes draw cards. You’ll also want ramp and landfall to make the best use of this ability, but blinking this card already gives you good value.

#20. Illuna, Apex of Wishes

Illuna, Apex of Wishes’s mutate ability is very strong. Whenever you mutate, you get to play a permanent from your deck. That allows us to cheat big cards into play. Or if you reveal a mutate card, you can mutate onto Illuna, getting access to two more cards from your deck. It’s also great when you have a good indestructible hexproof creature and you mutate Illuna onto it, basically making it a base 6/6 flier and getting the added card advantage on top.

#19. Maha, Its Feathers Night

Maha, Its Feathers Night has an excellent ability that limits the toughness of opposing creatures to 1. You’re restricted to mono-black on this one, but even a single Infest or Pestilence works wonders to control the board. Or a good lock with Kaervek, the Spiteful. Plus, you’re getting an excellent beater in the air.

#18. Ashling, Flame Dancer

Ashling, Flame Dancer is a great spellslinger commander. You want to cast a lot of spells each turn, be it cards like Faithless Looting, Tormenting Voice, or rituals, while having prowess creatures in play. The payoff is churning through your deck, dealing damage to your opponents, and adding red mana. The best aspect is that your red mana doesn’t go anywhere, so it can be stored for a future finisher spell. And adding deathtouch to Ashling via equipment is excellent to build a constant creature sweeper.

#17. Lumra, Bellow of the Woods

Just casting Lumra, Bellow of the Woods is huge. You’ll usually cast it as a baseline 6/6, but milling some lands will ramp you hard. If they don’t kill Lumra, you have a big beatstick, and if they kill it, you get to cast it again. Plus, vigilance and reach help you attack and defend.

#16. Wildsear, Scouring Maw

Wildsear, Scouring Maw generates a lot of value if you have some enchantress cards and build around enchantments. Let’s say I cast a 5-mana saga: I’ll cascade into a 3-mana enchantment for free, while drawing two cards. It’s also a 6/6 trample, which means you can invest into a big commander and play expensive auras, which will cascade into cheaper auras, and you can hit hard. Enchantments with cost reduction like Sapling Nursery are great here. And what about an Unnatural Growth cascading into something and turning your commander into a 12/12 trampler?

#15. Kalamax, the Stormsire

Kalamax, the Stormsire is a spell-copy enabler, but you have to jump through hoops to get it tapped. You can attack using Dolmen Gate to protect your creature, you can try to cast your spells while attacking, or double a combat trick. They probably won’t block if you can easily cast two +4/+4 effects on your commander. Your card advantage is guaranteed if you can copy a big draw spell. Plus, you’ll naturally trigger magecraft whenever you copy your spells.

#14. Omnath, Locus of Creation

Omnath, Locus of Creation is pretty elemental independent, so you want to maximize the landfall aspect. Casting this card already draws you another card, so if they keep killing your commander, it’s no biggie. Fetch lands work wonders with this card because you want two or three triggers a turn; turning a mere Evolving Wilds into four mana is huge ramp for you, as well as lifegain.

#13. Omnath, Locus of All

Omnath, Locus of All pays you off for multicolor spells. You want to build around cards with three or more colors, and each turn, you can try to reveal one of them, adding more mana to your mana pool. By doing this, you’ll get a 3+ mana boost and draw another card. Plus, there’s the accumulated unspent mana ability, so be on the lookout for big targets and X-spells to spend it on.

#12. Ashaya, Soul of the Wild

Ashaya, Soul of the Wild scales with the number of lands and nontoken creatures you control, where most payoffs see only one or another. Ashaya will usually be a big creature, so cards that scale based on power and toughness are excellent. But the biggest benefit of this commander is that each nontoken creature that enters the battlefield triggers landfall since they are also considered lands.

#11. Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar

Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar is famous in cEDH as one of the better partners for Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator. When Kediss is around, each time Malcolm deals combat damage to a player, you’ll hit everybody else and create that many treasure. It’s also good as Voltron support, especially when partnered with cards that grow quickly (Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker or Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh + equipment).

#10. Maelstrom Wanderer

Maelstrom Wanderer is a classic commander that only cares about being cast, and the double cascade triggers offer you enough value to warrant running it. The fact that it gives your creatures haste helps with whatever creature you’re cascading into. But it’s a legend you actually don’t mind if they kill, since you can cast it again.

#9. Horde of Notions

Horde of Notions was, for a long time, the best option for a 5-color elemental commander. Its power lies in the activated ability: Cast an elemental from your graveyard for . Evoke is perfect since you’re putting the elemental you want straight into your graveyard. The Horde is also a good-sized creature, but the main focus is to cheat on elemental costs and have “infinite” reanimates.

#8. Averna, the Chaos Bloom

Averna, the Chaos Bloom offers a potent ramp effect each time you cascade. When cascading, you often get a land and a spell for free, and that’s one of the best incentives to build around said mechanic. Plus, cascade + landfall means you can build a solid landfall deck that will be constantly triggering, and make the best use of the many Temur () landfall cards out there.

#7. Animar, Soul of Elements

Animar, Soul of Elements is an excellent creature-centric commander. It has relevant protection to survive the best spot removal out there, and while it’s on the battlefield, Animar grows and makes your creature spells cheaper. It works well with creatures that put +1/+1 counters on other creatures to speed up the process. Evoke is excellent here, because you’re evoking for cheap and growing Animar at the same time.

#6. Ygra, Eater of All

Ygra, Eater of All is very flexible as a commander. Its defining aspect is that each creature is a food, so whenever a creature dies, or a Food is sacrificed, you put +1/+1 counters on Ygra and smash face. Many creatures synergize with food being sacrificed. Greta, Sweettooth Scourge is a flexible sacrifice outlet, while Night of the Sweets' Revenge turns your creatures into mana dorks. Cauldron Familiar is free sacrifice fodder in this deck, and the list goes on and on. And sometimes you’ll have a giant 16/16 Ygra attacking, which will close out games.

#5. Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn / Isilu, Carrier of Twilight

Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn gives all your creature spells convoke. That’s already a strong going wide payoff with tokens and the like. If you want, you can turn it into Isilu, Carrier of Twilight, which gives your creatures persist. That’ll double your enter the battlefield triggers, allow you to attack safely, or set up some interesting sacrifice shenanigans. And you can blink or airbend your creatures with -1/-1 counters to reset the engine. Being an Orzhov commander gives you access to good death triggers like afterlife creatures or Teysa Karlov. Let’s not forget Abandoned Air Temple, a natural “reseter” for persist.

#4. Mass of Mysteries

Mass of Mysteries gives any elemental you control myriad, one of the most powerful abilities in Commander. You’re attacking one opponent with the real elemental and the others with tokens, which will trigger abilities when entering and attacking. Elementals like Lamentation and Jubilation were tailor-made to work with this card, considering that encore is similar to myriad. But smaller elementals like Risen Reef trigger a lot and are also nice to have around.

#3. Ashling, the Limitless

Here, the name of the game is evoking elementals for 4 mana. Ashling, the Limitless doesn’t care how much your creature costs, as long as it’s an elemental. That cements this card as the top 5-color elemental commander. Evoking elementals also fuels graveyards synergies like encore, or Horde of Notions’s activated ability. On top of that, whenever you sacrifice an elemental (either via evoke or other means), you also get a free token of said creature with haste, doubling on the enter triggers.

#2. Yarok, the Desecrated

Yarok, the Desecrated is your mandatory trigger-doubling legendary creature, and here we’re restricted to ETBs. You want to add as many cards that enter the battlefield and do something good as possible, and that works very well with evoke. Mulldrifter draws you four cards while Shriekmaw kills two creatures, and so on. It also works with triggered mechanics like constellation, landfall, and the like.

#1. Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Muldrotha, the Gravetide is one of the best commanders out there. The ability to cast cards from your graveyard over and over again is excellent, and there are many combos you can do with this commander on the field. It only works with permanents, so you’re incentivized to play as few instants and sorceries as possible. With enough mana, you can evoke an elemental and cast it from the graveyard on the same turn, getting a lot of value.

What Are the Best Non-Elementals Commanders for an Elemental Deck?

Not all elemental typal decks need an elemental lord. Here are the best non-elemental commanders for an elemental deck.

The awaken mechanic turns lands into elemental creatures. So, a commander like Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper will have a lot of elementals by their side, although blue and white don’t help a lot since you lose on green and red (Creeping Trailblazer, Smokebraider, and more).

Kaheera, the Orphanguard is an elemental lord, giving them, and a bunch of other creature types, +1/+1 and vigilance.

Nissa, Resurgent Animist finds elementals with two landfall triggers a turn, so fetch lands can draw strong elementals you want to cast or evoke.

Bello, Bard of the Brambles can turn enchantments into elementals, so you can play a lord or two. The same can be said of Tatyova, Steward of Tides, which turns lands into 3/3 flying elementals later in the game.

Commanding Conclusion

Omnath, Locus of Creation | Illustration by Chris Rahn

And that’s about it for the best elemental commanders out there. Some of these are objectively powerful, like Muldrotha, the Gravetide or Yarok, the Desecrated, while others need some specific combos to work, or good elemental creatures. The nice thing is that an elemental deck will be heavy on creatures, enter triggers, sacrifice triggers, or just permanents in general, which is right up Muldrotha or Yarok’s alley, so you get more excuses to put elementals in your deck, regardless of the typal benefit. And in other cases, you want those specific typal benefits because you’ll have a lot of elemental creatures across the table.

What are your favorite elemental commanders? Have you built around any of these cards? Let me know in the comments section below, or over in our Draftsim Discord.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time.