All 36 1-Mana Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on December 4, 2025

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Magic's commanders come in all colors and sizes, and while many are powerful but insanely hard to cast, others are cheap and still pose a significant threat to your opponents. Today, I want to cover all the 1-mana commanders that WotC has ever released and rank them based on playability and power.

Are you ready to see what these sneaky little creatures can offer? Let's find out!

What Are 1-Mana Commanders in MTG?

Mikaeus, the Lunarch | Illustration by Steven Belledin

As the name suggests, 1-mana commanders are legendary creatures that cost only 1 mana to cast, making them highly efficient for early gameplay in the Commander formats, especially in Duel Commander, where some have even been banned. While many of these commanders thrive in aggressive decks, others excel in support roles due to their abilities.

I’ll consider commanders with an in their mana cost, as they technically fit into this category, although their practical use may differ.

Honorable Mention: Candela, Aegis of Adagia

Look away everyone, it’s an Alchemy card! The only thing that holds this back from being a paper card is the perpetual bonus on the card it returns, but otherwise, it’s a pretty easy-to-understand Kor Skyfisher variant disguised as a spacecraft commander. Brawl is the only place you’ll see it in the command zone, though the flash bit loses some luster when it’s face-up on the table. It also just got a +1 toughness rebalance, so it’s even better now, I guess.

#36. Aunt May

You’re not building mono-white spiders. That’s not a question, it’s a directive. And if you’re not doing that, the only reason you’d want Aunt May as a commander is because you really want access to half a Soul Warden every game. I recommend Haliya, Guided by Light for this if you’re hard-set on mono-white. Leave Aunt May to make wheatcakes or whatever.

#35. Gran-Gran

Missed opportunity to have “partners with Paw-Paw” somewhere on this card. Gran-Gran feeds into the lessons archetype from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which means it has a predefined home that’s not all that good, especially since lesson/learn doesn’t operate in Commander the way you’d want it to. There’s probably Twiddle combo potential here, but I’m saying bye-bye to Gran-Gran.

#34. Freya Crescent

Underdeveloped as a commander, the same way Freya Crescent was underdeveloped as a character in Final Fantasy IX. This is one of many recent legends that wasn’t given legendary status because it was intended to be a commander, but rather because it represents a well-known character.

This is a solid utility card for equipment decks, but so many of those decks rely on their commander to provide card advantage and free equips, and Freya does neither. You might argue a Llanowar Elves for these decks is quite strong (and it is), but you lose out on too much when you have this as your actual commander. Run it in the 99 instead.

#33. Cultist of the Absolute

Since you can run backgrounds as a variation of partner commanders, it does make sense to have Cultist of the Absolute on the list. This black commander naturally fits in very aggressive strategies at the cost of sacrificing a creature every turn. This minor setback is easy to bypass, especially if you run cards that provide you with tokens each turn like Skrelv's Hive or Bitterblossom.

#32. Haldir, Lórien Lieutenant

Technically, you can cast Haldir, Lórien Lieutenant for 1 mana, so it passes the test for a 1-mana green commander. Anthem effects and the like can help you to cast it without it dying the moment it hits the field.

#31. Mikaeus, the Lunarch

Mikaeus, the Lunarch kinda falls into the same realm as Haldir, Lórien Lieutenant but with the upside that you can re-distribute its +1/+1 counters among creatures you control, making it a huge addition to any aggro decks. That said, I don’t rank this white commander any higher on the list because it’s only here on a technicality.

#30. Hope of Ghirapur

Hope of Ghirapur as a colorless commander may not be the greatest of all time because it leads to aggressive play patterns that are extremely limited for colorless decks. That said, you can run it as a support card in other aggro decks, and it's one of the best cheap enablers for ninja commanders.

#29. Spinneret and Spiderling

There are just barely more spiders in mono-red than in mono-white, but not enough to make the spider text any more desirable than Aunt May’s. You could ignore that completely and build this as a heroic-style pump spell deck that looks to chain off power-boosting red spells and win through commander damage, which makes it pretty interesting despite its dinky spider text. Hey, maybe it’s a reason to sleeve up Needlepeak Spider in Bracket 1.

#28. The Last Ride

The Last Ride sneaks in as a potential commander thanks to the Edge of Eternities rules changes. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really fit Commander all too well. As with Death's Shadow, this black vehicle doesn’t scale well with Commander’s higher life totals, so it’s hard to ever make it matter in combat until you’re on the precipice of death. It does give you a Greedy artifact in the command zone, but the activation cost is expensive enough to turn me away. Points for being unique, though.

#27. Kellan, Planar Trailblazer

I have nothing against Kellan, or red commanders, but Kellan, Planar Trailblazer requires you to spend six mana for a 3/2 double strike with impulse Curiosity. At best you get that full saboteur damage in, you get two cards, and need to be sure you aggressively go after the most dangerous player at your Commander table.

#26. Errant, Street Artist

Errant, Street Artist can be a fun blue commander to brew around, but it requires some work. When paired with Dramatic Reversal and Twincast, you can add infinite mana and untap nonland permanents infinitely. This is a use case, but it works with any copy spell. Remember that magecraft abilities pair well with those, which is a potentially fun idea to brew around.

#25. Frodo, Sauron's Bane

The good thing about Frodo, Sauron's Bane is that its dual color identity lets you run it as an Orzhov commander to enable more powerful strategies. On top of that, it’s one of the few commanders that incentivize you to play and build around with the Ring tempts you, providing you with an extra option for deck building.

#24. Grist, Voracious Larva / Grist, the Plague Swarm

I’ve had very good experiences with Grist, Voracious Larva in reanimator decks with Slimefoot and Squee, among others, and you can use most of the tools in that deck to bring Grist back to the field. With enough effort, you can set up very good early plays with reanimation spells and cards like Buried Alive or Entomb to transform your Golgari commander whenever your creatures return from the graveyard.

#23. Isamaru, Hound of Konda

If you want a straight-up beatdown mono-white commander, then you can’t go wrong with Isamaru, Hound of Konda. A 2/2 body is good enough to apply pressure early on, and it can quickly snowball when paired with anthem effects.

That said, a similar dog is a better option than this loyal Kamigawa friend.

#22. Zurgo Bellstriker

Before Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Zurgo Bellstriker was a 1-mana red commander that could be run as the deck's flagbearer. Ultimately, it's just a weaker version of Ragavan, as the pseudo-mana ramp ability on the monkey pirate is insanely good.

#21. Basri, Tomorrow’s Champion

Was Basri like, known for cats at any point or something? Help me out Vorthos players.

Basri, Tomorrow's Champion gets the nod over the last few 1-mana 2/2 dorks because it actually has a relevant ability, but this is catnip for the 99 of another deck. The cycling ability doesn’t even work if this is your commander, though maybe you can play around with untap abilities to turbo out some kitty cats.

#20. Cecil, Dark Knight / Cecil, Redeemed Paladin

Cecil, Dark Knight is potentially worse than Isamaru and Zurgo, but it actually has a dream worth striving for (transforming into Cecil, Redeemed Paladin). I bet there are some sweet things you can do with a symmetrical life loss ability like this, but the baseline of slightly larger Typhoid Rats isn’t pulling me in by itself.

#19. Zack Fair

Much like Freya Crescent, oft-forgotten Final Fantasy VII semi-protagonist Zack Fair is a better equipment support card than a commander. It ranks a bit higher as something that synergizes with more decks, since the +1/+1 counter text is useful as well, but it’s ultimately a bit too… fair.

#18. Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter

Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter is a 1-drop green commander that obviously fits in token-centric decks, but you can also add some artifact synergies with cards like Steel Overseer to maximize its potential. Of course, whenever you’re creating 1/1 tokens, you’d also want to run Skullclamp for the card draw value, or more token enablers like Sandstorm Salvager to combine with Oviya’s second activated ability.

#17. Skrelv, Defector Mite

As a commander, Skrelv, Defector Mite can be handy as you can use it early to protect one of your threats from removal. Still, it's fairly easy to remove with a fragile body, and popular cards like Orcish Bowmasters easily haunt it.

On top of that, it's less powerful than some of the other 1-mana commanders on the list that can fit in more aggressive versions of the deck.

#16. Tinybones, the Pickpocket

Tinybones, the Pickpocket works better in pox-style strategies that run discard effects paired with removal to get the card advantage you need from your opponents. At first glance, it may seem hard for Tinybones to get through, but this becomes rather easy in a deck full of black kill spells.

#15. Valentin, Dean of the Vein / Lisette, Dean of the Root

We only care about the front face here. Valentin, Dean of the Vein is a 1-mana vampire commander who can serve as incidental graveyard hate and start creating a small army whenever creatures your opponents control die.

#14. Stiltzkin, Moogle Merchant

Stiltzkin, Moogle Merchant can go a few different ways. There’s the old Zedruu the Greathearted strat of gifting people cards with terrible downsides. Or you could play a basic group hug deck and settle for second or third place nearly every game. Gift or grift really is the name of the game with this moogle.

Alternatively, you could build around donating permanents that don’t really matter to turn this into a card draw engine. For example, you can spot people excess Treasure or Food for cards, or pawn away a saga after its final chapter hits the stack.

#13. Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp

As a Boros commander, Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp can fit into aggressive decks, though it’s best known for its combo potential with cards like Together Forever and Cauldron of Souls along with other modular creatures in your deck.

#12. Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist

Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist is a fun 1-mana black commander that fits perfectly in an aristocrat archetype, where the main goal is to sacrifice your creatures for drain effects from cards like Blood Artist or Zulaport Cutthroat. It also excels with cards that you can profitably recur from the graveyard like Bloodghast or token generators like Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia.

#11. Kytheon, Hero of Akros / Gideon, Battle-Forged

One of the original and very first flipwalkers, Kytheon, Hero of Akros has seen tons of play in multiple MTG formats, including Modern at one point. Nowadays, players prefer to run it as an alternative to Isamaru or Yoshimaru for their mono-white aggro commanders. Once it's flipped, it can support your other creatures by distracting potential attackers, give a creature indestructible, or just slam through your opponents with sheer force as a 4/4.

#10. Norin, Swift Survivalist

Unlike its other version, Norin, Swift Survivalist is a creature that works better on the aggressive side because it can bypass some attack scenarios. For example, there's a 3/3, and you have three 2/2 creatures that would usually be unable to attack. In that case, you can attack freely, as the blocked creature can just be recast from exile at the cost of a small tempo loss. Another key difference is that unlike Norin the Wary, this Norin benefits from other creatures’ enters abilities rather than just creaturefall effects alone.

#9. Rosnakht, Heir of Rohgahh

Due to its nature, Rosnakht, Heir of Rohgahh reminds me a lot of Zada, Hedron Grinder gameplay patterns when you combine it with cards like Expedite and Fists of Flame. While similar, the approach is to add more tokens rather than use tokens to win the game, unlike Zada, so cards like Enduring Courage and Impact Tremors become better.

#8. K-9, Mark I

There are multiple things I love about K-9, Mark I. Its name is incredibly funny, but more importantly, you can partner it with time lord doctors, similar to dog commander Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful, to add different play patterns and themes to your decks. On top of that, as long as you keep this friendly fella untapped, you get to protect your other legendary creatures with ward 1, opening the door for legendary-matters decks.

#7. Momo, Friendly Flier

As far as the 1-mana aggro commanders go, Momo, Friendly Flier soars pretty far above the others. It locks you into a mono-white fliers deck, but that’s a pretty expansive archetype. Cost reduction that starts from turn 1 is incredibly strong, and Momo can hit pretty hard if you keep your curve lean and fill out the deck with token generators like Battle Screech. There’s also probably some Stonecloaker infinite here that I’m not quite piecing together.

#6. Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor

It didn’t do Marvel’s Spider-Man any favors to have Lady Octopus, Inspired Inventor feel completely out of place in the set, but you’ve got to divorce it from the set it came in.

Octo-lady makes it trivially easy to build up ingenuity counters, free-casts spells (which is always powerful), and has no sorcery restriction on the activation either. It probably takes a nice balance of cantripping artifacts and big haymaker artifacts to properly work, but decks built around cantripping tend to be consistent. It’s a clear sideways callback to Jhoira, Ageless Innovator, which is pretty strong in its own right.

#5. Norin the Wary

Norin the Wary isn’t your common red commander, who usually tend to be on the aggressive side. This one cares about enters the battlefield triggers when paired with cards like Genesis Chamber or Purphoros, God of the Forge to punish your opponents in a different way other than just attacking.

#4. Rhys the Redeemed

Rhys the Redeemed is a very similar card to Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter, as they both excel in token-centric decks. The former has better tools to work with as the additional color provides this Selesnya commander () with token multipliers like Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation, Mondrak, Glory Dominus, and Anointed Procession.

#3. Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful

I’ve been having tons of joy playing Duel Commander, and one of the most versatile and strong decks has to be one that runs Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful as one of the partner commanders. You slam it on turn 1, and from there, it grows disproportionately in power and toughness as more legendary permanents enter play. On top of that, not all Yoshimaru decks are the same, as you can pair it with partners of different colors to diversify their aggressive nature in terms of threats.

#2. Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student / Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student is another flipwalker that were released in Modern Horizons 3. Like Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, it’s banned from Duel Commander, as both are early threats that provide immense value for minimal cost each time they hit the battlefield. But in EDH, I can see this Simic commander being played in many archetypes outside of control, including token or artifact themes.

#1. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

It's not surprising that Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is banned in the Duel Commander format. It's one of the most oppressive commanders ever printed in 1v1 environments, and while it's more manageable in regular Commander, it can still get out of hand quickly if left unchecked.

Best 1-Drop Commander Payoffs

There are a couple ways to exploit the fact that you have a 1-mana commander aside from just getting started on turn 1 every game, or minimizing how much commander tax affects you. Just bare in mind that most 1-drop commanders lock you into a single color, so you have to match them up with payoffs of the same color identity.

Cards that reference controlling your commander just pop online sooner, and they set up some great curves. Imagine Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer into Loyal Apprentice, or Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful into Noble Heritage for quick beatdowns. Aggro 1-drops set you up for quick starts, like following up Isamaru, Hound of Konda with a Luminarch Aspirant-type card.

You might also want to look at anything that supports 1-drops in general. Abiding Grace, Proclamation of Rebirth, and Magnanimous Magistrate can be great recursion pieces for a cheap commander, while something like Jackal, Genius Geneticist usually needs a 1-drop to get going.

These commanders also kick-start your pod effects nicely. A 1-drop legend means you can always get a Birthing Pod chain going from the bottom of the mana curve, which often spirals into combo wins. I’m not the person to ask about pod lines though, especially in mono-colored decks.

Wrap Up

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Due to their nature, many 1-mana commanders tend to fit better in aggressive decks, but others like Grist, Voracious Larva or K-9, Mark I offer more of a support role.

My favorites are the ones that let you run them along with partners, as that lets you play with more than one color. After all, being cheap comes with its fair share of limitations, such as color identity or power and toughness.

Which do you like the most? Are there any that deserved a higher ranking? Let us know in the comments.

As always, it's a pleasure writing and researching different MTG topics. If you like this list and want to see more, remember to follow us on social media and join our Discord server to never miss an update!

Take care, and see you next time!