The 25 Best Lands Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on January 31, 2024

Thalia and The Gitrog Monster | Illustration by Howard Lyon

Every Magic deck, barring some very specific builds, requires lands, but some decks make lands a much bigger part of their strategy. These decks utilize cards that specifically interact with lands entering or leaving the battlefield and usually include ways to get additional lands. If you’re looking to build a Commander deck around lands, you’ll want to pick a commander that fits the theme well.

Lands commanders come in a variety of different styles and color identities, although most include green since it has the best land support in the game. Some lands commanders are good at getting you extra lands, while others reward you for playing lands. Still others have more unique interactions with lands, like turning them into creatures or even wanting you to sacrifice your own lands.

There are a lot of lands commanders to choose from, and this isn’t an exhaustive list of every option. That said, I did take a look at some of the most commonly used lands commanders that I thought were the best for either trying out the theme or making a powerful deck. If one of your favorite lands commanders isn’t on the list, let me know in the comments! I’m always excited to learn about builds I might not have considered yet.

What Are Lands Commanders in MTG?

Tatyova, Benthic Druid | Illustration by Mathias Kollros

A lands commander is any legal commander that has a focus on land cards. They’re mostly legendary creatures, though there are some planeswalkers that can be your commander, and one in particular that fits this list very well.

#25. Thrasios, Triton Hero + Vial Smasher the Fierce

Thrasios, Triton Hero and Vial Smasher the Fierce are a popular duo when it comes to partner commanders. Thrasios allows you to ramp, making it easier to cast big spells and deal damage with Vial Smasher. Thrasios’s ability may seem expensive, but it’s the perfect mana sink for a land themed deck, and the extra ramp you build in will make it easy to afford.

#24. Muldrotha, the Gravetide

Muldrotha, the Gravetide is more often played as a sacrifice or graveyard matters commander, but it still works pretty well for a lands deck. Being able to play lands from your graveyard makes it easier for you to get consistent landfall triggers, especially if you’re running fetch lands. Muldrotha overall makes your deck more consistent since your opponents have to exile permanents if they don’t want you using them again.

#23. Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer

Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer has two good payoffs for playing lands. Making your commander stronger makes it more effective in combat and harder to remove with damage. This card also allows you to spend your mana on getting additional lands, knowing you’ll be getting creatures for free along with them.

#22. Titania, Protector of Argoth

Titania, Protector of Argoth makes pretty strong creature tokens, you’ll just need consistent ways to play lands from your graveyard. Green has a good number of options for this and ways to sacrifice your own lands for helpful effects. This commander also gives you some insurance against mass land destruction which is always a plus.

#21. Slogurk, the Overslime

Slogurk, the Overslime gives you the freedom to sacrifice lands to spells or abilities while giving you a way to potentially get them back. Since the lands can enter your graveyard from anywhere, you can also mill yourself and get lands back from your graveyard with Slogurk’s ability.

#20. Azusa, Lost but Seeking

Azusa, Lost but Seeking makes it easy to get more lands on the battlefield than your opponents and pretty quickly. This is especially helpful in lands decks which usually run a larger percentage of lands than normal decks, so it’s more likely you’ll get to utilize this commander to the best of its ability.

#19. Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor

Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor is another lands commander that allows you to focus most of your effort on playing more lands. You’ll get at least one big attacker each turn from Obuun’s first ability or two if you’re safe to swing with your commander. This allows you to ramp early game and still deal some damage, then once you have a lot of lands you can play big splashy spells to help finish off your weakened opponents. Other landfall abilities that generate tokens, like Felidar Retreat’s can also help you build a bigger board state while playing ramping.

#18. Tatyova, Steward of Tides

Tatyova, Steward of Tides is a unique lands commander because it focuses on a specific type of lands: land creatures. There are some lands that can naturally turn into creatures like Restless Vinestalk, and spells like Sylvan Awakening can do the same. These combined with Tatyova’s ability gives you a lot of ways to turn your lands into flying creatures, meaning you can ramp while also having plenty of creatures.

#17. Titania, Nature’s Force

Titania, Nature's Force may only focus on forests, but in a mono-green deck that’s most of your lands. This card gives you very strong creatures just for playing your lands, and it makes it easier to get land drops from your graveyard. This also means you can use cards like Elvish Reclaimer to sacrifice a land, and then play that land again from the graveyard, giving you more chances to trigger Titania’s ability.

#16. Omnath, Locus of Rage

Omnath, Locus of Rage may be expensive, but once it hits the battlefield it does a lot of work for you. Not only can it create very strongs token pretty easily, it can also deal a significant amount of damage. Using fling effects or Goblin Bombardment gives you ways to sacrifice your own elementals and deal damage with Omnath. Cards like Terror of the Peaks can also do a lot of damage when you’re consistently making 5/5s.

#15. Borborygmos and Fblthp

Borborygmos and Fblthp can do a good job of removing creatures, something that Temur can sometimes struggle with. This commander can work well with cards like Turntimber Sower that care about lands being put in the graveyard. You’ll probably want to run a larger number of lands in this deck than normal, so you have a better chance of dealing damage.

#14. Yarok, the Desecrated

Lands decks are usually going to run a decent  number of landfall abilities to cash in on all the extra lands you’re playing. Yarok, the Desecrated doubles up all these landfall abilities and any other ETBs that you have in your deck. Lands like Field of the Dead and Bojuka Bog also have their own ETB effects that you can double up with Yarok.

#13. Archelos, Lagoon Mystic

Archelos, Lagoon Mystic works well as a land commander because it enhances the natural advantages of playing more lands than your opponents. Your ramp spells like Farseek allow you to put lands onto the battlefield untapped, and any tap lands you’re running can come in untapped. You can also slow down your opponents’ game if you have a way to safely tap Archelos each turn.

#12. Tatyova, Benthic Druid

Tatyova, Benthic Druid’s ability might not be super exciting, but it allows you to have a very consistent game. You’ll constantly be drawing more cards, especially in a lands deck, ensuring you have something to do each turn. In a game like Magic where entire games can be ruined by bad draws or being mana screwed/flooded, Tatyova can win you games just by cutting down on your bad luck.

#11. The Gitrog Monster

Lands commanders like The Gitrog Monster that allow you to play extra lands are always helpful for activating landfall abilities or any other land-based abilities. Consistently sacrificing lands can also help trigger abilities and will keep you drawing cards with this commander. Including ways to get lands back from the graveyard makes this deck more consistent and keeps you from ever actually losing a land to your commander.

#10. Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait

Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait has similar positive attributes to The Gitrog Monster, just with less of the graveyard interactions. That said I like this commander slightly better as there’s no risk of losing too many lands or relying on ways to get them back from the graveyard. You’ll still be drawing a lot of cards and playing extra lands.

#9. Zimone and Dina

Zimone and Dina makes it pretty easy to play extra lands, as long as you have ways to generate creatures to sacrifice on a regular basis. Ophiomancer is a good addition for this commander, as is Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler or similar ways to untap your commander and activate its ability multiple times. This can help you ramp and keep a full hand, and occasionally drain some life from your opponents.

#8. Titania, Voice of Gaea

Titania, Voice of Gaea on its own isn’t the most exciting commander, but once you’re able to meld it with Argoth, Sanctum of Nature, it becomes a lot more powerful. Titania is easier to meld than other creatures with the mechanic because green has a lot of ways to find specific lands. Crop Rotation is perfect for this deck because it throws a land in the graveyard and finds you Argoth when you’re ready to meld. Titania, Gaea Incarnate is a great attacker and blocker, and it can activate a lot of abilities by returning all your lands to the field. With an abundance of lands, you can easily make them into creatures and not worry too much about losing a couple.

#7. Hazezon, Shaper of Sand

Hazezon, Shaper of Sand is a unique lands commander, focusing on desert lands. There are a decent number of deserts you can put in this deck, and since you can play them from the graveyard you can also sacrifice the ones you have and play them again to make more tokens. Naya () commanders have good support for tokens and creating wide board states, which makes Hazezon a great color for what this deck wants to do.

#6. Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir

Jolrael, Voice of Zhalfir makes what I’d consider the best kind of land creatures. They’re flying, so it’s easier for them to get around blockers, and they go back to being lands at the end of your turn, so you don’t have to worry about them being easily removed. Simic has an easy time keeping your hand full, so your land creatures will probably be pretty big.

#5. Soul of Windgrace

Soul of Windgrace gives you quite a few ways to make use of your lands by discarding them. This means they won’t feel like dead draws once you already have your mana base set up. You can also immediately get the lands you discard back by attacking with your commander, so it would be helpful to have a card like Mithril Coat to help keep it safe.

#4. Nine-Fingers Keene

Nine-Fingers Keene is a lands commander that focuses on a specific type of lands: gates. It makes it easy to find gates and is also a form of ramp. Keene’s ward ability is a big price for opponents to pay just to target it, and if you run counter spells you can easily get opponents to waste some of their life. Menace makes it easier to attack with this commander, but you’ll still probably want other ways to keep it safe so you can trigger its ability.

#3. Omnath, Locus of Creation

Omnath, Locus of Creation gives you a lot of value when you’re able to play multiple lands on a turn. The lifegain can build you a cushion and give you some extra time, the extra mana can make it a lot easier to cast more spells each turn, and dealing damage can be really helpful for removing planeswalkers or at least fending off their ultimate abilities.

#2. Lord Windgrace

Lord Windgrace is a powerful planeswalker commander that’s perfect for a lands build. You can draw lots of extra cards by discarding your lands and then get them directly onto the battlefield the following turn. While Windgrace’s ultimate ability can be good, its first two abilities are probably going to do the most work for you and keep your game consistent.

#1. Thalia and The Gitrog Monster

Thalia and The Gitrog Monster takes the best abilities from the commanders it combines while ditching the inherent downside of the original The Gitrog Monster. First strike and deathtouch discourages your opponents from blocking, meaning you can easily benefit from this card’s attack trigger.

Best Lands Commander Payoffs

One of the best ways to benefit from having a lot of lands in your deck is to use landfall abilities. Avenger of Zendikar and Scute Swarm are popular choices, and since most lands commanders are in green, you’ll be able to run them in a lot of lands decks.

Scapeshift can be a great way to get a lot of landfall triggers in a single turn and can trigger other abilities focused on lands leaving the battlefield. The right deck might also want lands in the graveyard, making this a good way to get them there while not losing your mana base.

Cards like Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar that care about how many lands you control are also great options for lands decks.

Commanding Conclusion

Soul of Windgrace | Illustration by Liiga Smilshkalne

Lands commanders are a good way to get more value out of a card type every deck is already playing anyway. If you’re sick of being mana screwed, lands decks can also be a nice way to ensure you’re getting a good mana base each game. Lands commanders can also give you a new way of looking at lands, seeing them as resources beyond the mana they produce. This is always a fun way to shake up how you think about the cards you’re playing and keeps the game from feeling stale.

What’s your favorite lands commander? How many lands do you like to run in land focused decks? Were there any commanders you think I missed that should be included here? Let me know in the comments or on Draftsim’s Twitter/X.

Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you next time!