The 21 Best Temur Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 22, 2024

Kalamax, the Stormsire | Illustration by Nicholas Gregory

Sometimes you can get too wrapped up in the complexities and intricate synergies of the Commander format. You tunnel vision on new combos, unique interactions, and game plans that are too complicated to offer a consistent way to win the game. I suggest you take a step back and look at the simplistic (yet enjoyable) way to play EDH: good old-fashioned creature-based big-stuff decks.

“Temur Good Stuff” is a strategy as old as time, and one that that the color combination can easily support. It’s powerful, it’s fun to play, and it’s great for players of all skill levels. Today I’d like to introduce you to some of the best Temur () commanders in Magic and offer a sample decklist to get your brain turning and inspire you to start brewing.

Let’s get into it!

Why Go with a Temur Commander?

Animar, Soul of Elements | Illustration by Peter Mohrbacher

Temur is a color wedge of size. Your strategy almost always revolves around doing normal things like playing creatures, casting spells, and taking extra turns, but to an enormous magnitude. Nearly any deck can be described as “big stuff” or “big spells,” but don’t let this apparent simplicity trick you.

You have to carefully construct your deck to take advantage of Temur’s abilities and consistently get the mana and interactions you need to explode. A big part of that is using a commander that empowers this core strategy.

#21. Averna, the Chaos Bloom

Averna, the Chaos Bloom is a Temur cascade commander. It’s more of a supporting piece for other cascade synergies thanks to an ability that nets you a land whenever you cascade.

An ideal Averna deck has as many cards with cascade as you can jam into your list. There are plenty of support for the mechanic, with a boost coming from the Warhammer 40K decks. The mechanic is innately powerful because it turns all your cards into 2-for-1s by doubling the number of spells you cast.

Cascade also works incredibly well with forms of top deck manipulation. Cards like Sensei's Divining Top and Ponder help you make sure you’re hitting a high-value spell with your cascade triggers. Spells that put cards on top of your library like Mystical Tutor and Worldly Tutor give you guaranteed gas for each hit.

Another high-value synergy with your cascade spells is cast from exile shenanigans. Spells cast with cascade get cast from exile, so they work brilliantly with cards like Passionate Archaeologist and Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald to net you even more value.

Averna wants to use cascade to set up an incredibly robust and powerful engine so that every spell you cast gets maximum value. Something to remember with this strategy is that not every card is worth cascading into. The mechanic works poorly with spells with X in their casting cost and countermagic. That said, it’s a minor deckbuilding restriction for some insane value.

#20. Lara Croft, Tomb Raider

Lara Croft, Tomb Raider is quite a legendary treasure as a Secret Lair, though the ability that creates discovery counters takes an archeologist’s careful attention to pull off well, the raid ability on the other hand is solid for getting consistent value. There are a few raid cards in Temur that you’d want to play and Brazen Cannonade is among the best.

It’s a great feeling when your commander pays its own way in three attacks. You know WotC is on their flavor game when Collector's Vault is a great synergy piece in a Lara Croft, Tomb Raider deck.

#19. Gimbal, Gremlin Prodigy

As a wedge, Temur is most often associated with massive creatures first and massive spells second. Gimbal, Gremlin Prodigy is an interesting card because it’s one of the few artifact-matters commanders Temur has. Gimbal can quickly snowball out of control by making massive Gremlin tokens each turn.

Since you need as many differently named artifact tokens as you can get, you’ll want to load your deck with a variety of ways to make extra tokens. Academy Manufactor is a great addition that works well with the plethora of ways to make Treasure tokens in Temur, but don’t forget a source of Clue and Food tokens like Fae Offering and Waveshifter.

Another strategy to bulk up your artifact token count is to make copies of the nontoken artifacts you control. Drafna, Founder of Lat-Nam and Mechanized Reproduction are just a few options that make token copies of your artifacts. You can also make copies with effects like Irenicus's Vile Duplication if you’re copying creatures that are already artifacts.

Once you’ve assembled your tokens, look for ways to help end the game with your Gremlins. Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer is a powerful option. If you only copy the Myr, all your Treasures and non-creature tokens become 2/1s, and your Gremlins get way stronger since they keep all their counters but get base power and toughness 2/1 instead of 0/0.

Cards like Reckless Fireweaver that chip away at your opponents as you amass your board can also help close out a game. Cyberdrive Awakener and Rise and Shine can round out the finishers with more ways to animate your tokens and make use of Gimbal giving your team trample.

#18. The Swarmlord

The Swarmlord basically starts as a 6-mana 7/7 and only gets stronger from there. This commander wants you to recast it from the command zone multiple times, so you’ll definitely need to get some of that Temur ramp going. It also wants to be surrounded by creatures with counters to get the most value from its cunning second ability.

One big thing to look at here is that this commander doesn’t care about +1/+1 counters, just counters in general. You can do powerful things with other counters, like the ability counters from Ikoria and shield counters from Streets of New Capenna. Cards like Titan of Industry and Avian Oddity are interesting inclusions to the deck.

Of course, you can still look at ample +1/+1 synergies to find plenty of support for this commander. There are tons of cards that double the counters you get, like Kami of Whispered Hopes and Pir, Imaginative Rascal to make The Swarmlord and your other creatures massive.

You’re also going to want ways to use that triggered ability. It gives you some wrath protection, but sacrifice outlets also go a long way. Temur isn’t known for its aristocrats strategies, but you can make something work by loading up tokens with counters and sacrificing them to powerful effects like Greater Good and Ashnod's Altar to generate a bunch of mana and card advantage.

#17. Yasova Dragonclaw

One idea Temur embodies quite well is Survival of the Fittest, the idea that Might Makes Right and the biggest creature reigns supreme. Yasova Dragonclaw embodies this because it uses its triggered ability to dominate the will of smaller creatures and take control of them each combat (and more efficiently than Might Makes Right, too!)

Yasova can make a great Voltron commander. You want to make it bigger to enable its ability anyway, so the two strategies work well together. Slapping a Sword of Fire and Ice or Sword of Feast and Famine on Yasova lets you steal most creatures and sets you up to do a lot of commander damage in one go.

You can also focus on stealing your opponents’ creatures to generate a board advantage. Yasova only lets you keep them until the end of the turn, but you can offset that with cards like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling, or with a Conjurer's Closet that exiles one of your creatures and returns them under your control. Most flicker effects return the exiled creature under its owner’s control, so make sure they specify under your control.

Another fun trick you can do with Yasova is to play it with a bunch of Clone effects and sacrifice outlets like Phyrexian Altar and Goblin Bombardment. The sacrifice outlets let you kill your opponent’s creature after stealing it. The clone effects are for dealing with your opponent’s commanders; you can steal it, copy it, and sacrifice the original to the legend rule, forcing your opponent to cast it again. This is more mana intensive than the sacrifice route, but it’s also more fun!

#16. Surrak Dragonclaw

Starting off our rankings is the Khan of the Temur clan, Surrak Dragonclaw. Surrak promotes a simple creature-based strategy and helps protect your spells by making them uncounterable and giving trample across the board to further promote combat-based victories.

The name of the game here is simple: run them over. Decks with Surrak always want to run a few board-wide buffs and then fill your deck with a wide array of powerful creatures that pose significant threats to your non-creature-based opponents.

Since nearly all your creatures (other than mana dorks) have high powers and offensive-based keywords, you want to include cards that have excellent synergy with them. Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma is an excellent example of this. Not only do you get a 2-mana discount across the board, your cheaper creatures also get bigger and trample. Garruk's Uprising and Rhythm of the Wild are similar cards but in enchantment form. The card draw from Uprising is critical to making sure you can refill your board and apply consistent pressure, and Rhythm gives you the option to quickly finish opponents off when you get a window of opportunity.

One of the pitfalls with Surrak Dragonclaw (and Temur Commander decks in general) is to just throw in a bunch of creatures in and call it “Temur Good Stuff.” While this won’t necessarily lead you completely astray from the main idea, it’s important to take advantage of the powerful instants and sorceries available to you.

There’s no reason not to include powerful staples like Cyclonic Rift, Negate, Stubborn Denial, and Mana Drain. You’re not creature tribal so don’t be afraid to throw in some tempo or card advantage to keep your engine running smoothly.

#15. Illuna, Apex of Wishes

The mutate mechanic is rather tricky with strange edge cases, but it’s also one of the most engaging mechanics. Illuna, Apex of Wishes gives you a Temur outlet for all those strong mutate synergies, giving you tons of free value.

Play plenty of mutate creatures to get as many permanents off Illuna as possible. Auspicious Starrix basically gives you another version of Illuna. You can get board control with Archipelagore and Gemrazer, while options like Dreamtail Heron and Lore Drakkis give you some card advantage.

You’ll also want a host of solid non-human creatures to mutate onto. Slither Blade and Gudul Lurker are options that let your big mutate creature get in without getting blocked, while choices like Slippery Bogle and Gladecover Scout give your mutinous monstrosity hexproof.

Other non-human synergies can help make our mutate cards even better. Wingspan Mentor and Frillscare Mentor give you additional evasion while Grumgully, the Generous and Ferocity of the Wilds bulk up the team.

#14. Intet, the Dreamer

Next up is the Elder Dragon (in the lore, at least) Intet, the Dreamer. Intet promotes a big-mana, big-spell playstyle that aims to generate lots of mana or deal combat damage with your commander to cast gigantic game-threatening spells as early as possible. Instead of the typical Temur strategy of playing many 4-to-6-mana value creatures consistently to win via combat, this commander wants to cast fewer and larger spells to achieve the same ending with less resources.

Since you’re casting less spells overall you want your creatures and sorceries to be big in scale. Think Genesis Ultimatum and Atarka, World Render as the baseline. Your goal is to flip the kind of spells that make your opponent’s jaw drop off the top of your deck.

In terms of powerful creatures there are plenty to choose from but allow me to give you some recommendations. First, you want to be able to filter the top of your deck as much as possible so make sure to include Augur of Autumn, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Courser of Kruphix right off the bat.

With that out of the way, I’d like to direct your attention to some of the most powerful dragons in red. Terror of the Peaks is a huge flier that lets you blast enemies when other creatures enter the battlefield. Drakuseth, Maw of Flames helps clear your enemy’s lackluster defenses. And Dragonborn Champion keeps your hand full turn after turn.

Huge creatures won’t be the only threats you’re ripping off the top of your deck for . There are plenty of instants and sorceries to choose from as well. Omniscience, Mind's Dilation, and Future Sight are all cards you’ll be ecstatic to see and are well worth including.

#13. Me, the Immortal

Me, the Immortal is getting as close as possible to the digital-only mechanic, perpetual, in which the buff stays with the creature as it moves to the graveyard or the command zone. I love that the abilities are good on offense and defense. You could take this Doctor Who card and go the way of the voltron with built-in growth and recursion and be a threat that’s tough to beat.

What was intended as a significant downside for replaying this commander from the graveyard can become a huge upside if you build this deck correctly. Madness and discard payoffs are better in black, but still available in Temur colors. Pair Me with Rielle, the Everwise, Surly Badgersaur and Drake Haven and you’ll be in great shape to run the tables.

#12. Borborygmos and Fblthp

If you want to play with some lands in your Temur deck, Borborygmos and Fblthp came right from March of the Machine to give you a hand. It draws you a card and acts as a discard outlet for your lands while punching through your opponents’ creatures. It even has some protection built-in, so you don’t need to worry about paying the commander tax.

Pack some ways to recur the lands from your graveyard. Cards like Ramunap Excavator and Titania, Nature's Force can bring the lands you discard back to the battlefield. You can also use cards like Splendid Reclamation and World Shaper to bring tour lands back en masse.

You also need ways other than your commander to stock your graveyard with lands. Seismic Assault, Pyre of the World Tree, and Ayula's Influence make it easy to stock your graveyard. You can also draw on the previous iterations of your commander with Borborygmos Enraged to refill your hand with lands and discard them for massive damage.

You should want plenty of ways to profit from having lands in the graveyard. Elvish Reclaimer grows large while helping find value lands like Strip Mine you can use later. Cavalier of Flame and Centaur Vinecrasher get better the more lands you have in the bin. You can also use Turntimber Sower to make tokens while you fill your graveyard with lands.

#11. Haldan, Avid Arcanist / Pako, Arcane Retriever

Next is the partner combo of Haldan, Avid Arcanist and Pako, Arcane Retriever. This is a very cute combo where Pako steals cards from the top of your opponent’s libraries and Haldan plays them.

Instead of the typical Temur strategy of “big stuff,” you want to focus on having Pako remain unblocked in combat as often as possible and then win through card advantage supplied by your opponents’ own decks. Anything that gives Pako unblockable or creates more combat steps are must-haves, specifically Seize the Day, Relentless Assault, and anything similar.

You’re also attacking nearly every turn you have your commander so you should invest in some auras and equipment that makes that exchange easier and more profitable. Winged Boots, Lightning Greaves, and Whispersilk Cloak are all great examples.

While we’re on the topic of artifacts, I’d like to introduce you to Strionic Resonator and Wulfgar of Icewind Dale. These two cards will be your best friends and will give you twice the value from Pako’s attacks.

All in all I think this commander partnership is both a fun and powerful one. It plays different than most of the other Temur commanders and can be a pretty refreshing strategy.

#10. Beluna Grandsquall

The noble giant, Beluna Grandsquall might be the reason the return trip always feels shorter, it helps your spells cost less after they’ve gone on their adventure? We know that adventure cards are already valuable because they are two spells in one, so the cost reduction here is all upside.

Beluna is a fun EDH build that could go several ways since the Seek Thrills instant self-mills you, graveyard recursion cards have more options. The self-mill also makes abilities like delve and craft easier.

Another angle is to capitalize on adventures, and with more than two set’s worth of adventures, there are some rockin’ cards like the virtues of WOE. You get damage and card advantage with Lozhan, Dragons' Legacy, Chancellor of Tales, and Lucky Clover. A couple odd cases that go beautifully in the Temur adventure deck are Sage of the Beyond for more cost reduction, and Keeper of Secrets for maximum damage (didn’t I say something about size mattering in Temur?)

#9. Omnath, Locus of the Roil

It's time for big daddy O, Omnath, Locus of the Roil. While Omnath can be a landfall-based deck, it’s an elemental tribal commander through and through. There are hundreds of playable elementals but you might not really realize this until you’re like me and have to research an Omnath commander deck.

Since you’re putting your lot in with a specific tribe you get to enjoy the benefits of the many tribal-enabling artifacts and enchantments that bolster your strategy. Reflections of Littjara copies all your creatures and elemental spells which is as good as it gets in terms of maximizing value and threat. Vanquisher's Banner provides a board-wide buff and refills your hand. Herald's Horn discounts your elementals by (which adds up). And Door of Destinies provides increasingly powerful combat stat buffs as the game progresses.

Despite committing to elemental tribal Omnath, Locus of the Roil still provides landfall-based synergies that you can take advantage of from a ramping standpoint. Avenger of Zendikar, Cultivate, Growth Spiral, Phylath, World Sculptor, and Roil Elemental are all powerful enough in this deck that they’re worth being included.

Oh, and of course I'd be remiss not to mention Omnath, Locus of Creation dominating over in the 4-color world.

#8. Riku of Two Reflections

I love Riku of Two Reflections and always have. Being able to copy instants and sorceries and creatures for just two mana is just too much fun for me to pass up. I think this commander is absolutely perfect for Temur. After all, what’s better than playing massive and powerful spells? Playing them twice.

Certain cards get better when cast they’re twice so you want to pick your cards more carefully than if this was just “Temur Big Stuff.” There isn’t much point in duplicating a legendary creature when you can only have one in the first place. Having Riku of Two Reflections in the command zone also means that cards that were otherwise not strong enough to play as a single copy can be extremely worthwhile now that you can duplicate them. But enough explanation, let’s look at the fun cards you’re duplicating!

Rite of Replication is one of the best because you’re suddenly getting an extra five copies of any given creature. That almost always results in scoops from your opponents should it go uncontested. Just copying an Avenger of Zendikar and creating upwards of 100 plants should be enough to win with a single landfall trigger. Progenitor Mimic is nearly as good and can get out of control if you’re able to untap with it two or three times.

Copying ramp or card-draw spells is something else you shouldn’t overlook. Doubling the effects of a single Cultivate or Growth Spiral early enough can be just as powerful as a second bomb creature.

#7. Rashmi and Ragavan

Rashmi and Ragavan wants you to build out a wide board of artifacts so you can start stealing your opponents’ cards for crazy value.

Rashmi is far less restrictive than Gimbal since it only cares about your quantity of artifacts, not the different names, so going hard on Treasure tokens makes it shine. Xorn and Academy Manufacturer greatly increase your token production. You can also get lots of incidental artifact value by adding artifact lands like Seat of the Synod and Silverbluff Bridge to up the artifact count without even playing spells.

Rashmi and Ragavan‘s ability is strong, but relying solely on it can be risky since it can whiff by hitting lands. Back it up with other spell-stealing support; Etali, Primal Conqueror is a new card that’s a natural inclusion. Agent of Treachery lets you steal cards and profit even more from the cards you’ve taken, while Stolen Strategy and Mind's Dilation let you take even more cards off the top of your opponents’ decks.

This is another commander that works great with some cast-from-exile strategies as well. Passionate Archaeologist deals a bundle of damage once you’re casting multiple spells from exile. You can also use Wild Magic Sorcerer to make all those stolen spells cascade through your deck for even more value.

#6. Magus Lucea Kane

Doubling spells is really, really strong. It literally gets you twice the value of your mana. Doubling spells with X in their mana cost scales even harder. Magus Lucea Kane gives Temur a fantastic X spell matters commander that generates a bunch of mana and value at once.

There are plenty of powerful spells and ability to copy with this ability. First and foremost are burn spells like Comet Storm and the classic Fireball that easily become lethal once you pump a bunch of mana into them and double them. There’s also an abundance of card draw through cards like Blue Sun's Zenith, Silver Scrutiny, and Transcendent Message.

You can also make use of hydras since Lucea copies permanents. Creatures like Hydroid Krasis and Lifeblood Hydra are powerful alone and become so much stronger when they bring a copy into play with them. You also can’t overlook the ability to double abilities with X in their cost.

One great creature with an X ability is Shigeki, Jukai Visionary. Channel is an activated ability, so you can use this to Regrowth a bunch of cards from your graveyard. You could also devastate that opponent’s board by activating Alexi, Zephyr Mage.

#5. Maelstrom Wanderer

Your typical Wanderer list has a very simple game plan: play Maelstrom Wanderer ASAP. The bonus of having a 7/5 with haste is negligible in comparison to what comes out when you cast it.

Eight mana is extremely steep and many of the most powerful creatures in Magic are at the 7-mana range. But more importantly you can chain your cascade spells to get more than just two creatures or spells from your commander.

Aurora Phoenix is an excellent inclusion because it can continue a cascade chain after your commander and it continuously comes back from the graveyard when you cascade in later. Sakashima's Protégé can also continue the chain and enters as a copy of other creatures for further benefits.

In case your commander becomes too high in mana cost from multiple casts or you just have plenty of mana, Apex Devastator is a supreme game-ender that results in a completely full board from absolutely nothing. Four cascade chains starting at 10 mana grabs a dozen creatures or spells and immediately sets you as the target of three pitiful enemies.

What makes Maelstrom Wanderer so great is that it’s the absolute pinnacle of “Temur Good Stuff” as we know it. It’s easy to build, fun to play, and provides a high level of power despite a simple game plan. It’s everything you want in a Temur commander.

#4. Xyris, the Writhing Storm

Xyris, the Writhing Storm is one of the more unique commanders on the list, and one that supports a wheel-based strategy to win. In case you’re unaware, “wheels” in Magic are spells that cause players to discard their hand and draw new cards. It gets its name from the original wheel, Wheel of Fortune.

Since your strategy revolves around creature advantage generated by your opponents’ drawing cards, you want to include as many other affects that continuously support this strategy as possible. Cards like Teferi's Puzzle Box, Magus of the Wheel, Font of Mythos, and Howling Mine are all great options to include.

As for closing out the game, you have a couple tools at your disposal. The Locust God quickly and easily generates a wide board state of small creatures that can be buffed up through various means to attack for copious amounts of damage. Impact Tremors can alternatively be paired with it to cause each wheel to do damage equal to the number of cards drawn in total. This means that you can instantly blow up all your opponents when you make your 28+ small 1/1s from your wheels.

#3. Animar, Soul of Elements

Animar, Soul of Elements is an OG commander in Temur (and commander in general), and it’s not just because it’s a classic that has over 4,000 total decks posted online. Animar is a run-of-the-mill creature commander that gets increasingly more powerful as the game goes on and it stacks more +1/+1 counters.

This cast discount can help support pod decks outside of their engines like Survival of the Fittest or Birthing Pod. It also allows you to reach those high mana-value creatures like Emrakul, the Promised End or Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre pretty quickly. A pod-based strategy also supports a fairly balanced creature curve which plays nicely into your discounts.

If you end up going down the pod line, Temur offers a ton of creatures to choose from at each mana value:

• Mana Value 1: Mana dorks, Wild Cantor, Sylvan Safekeeper, Bond Beetle, and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer.
• Mana Value 2: Phantasmal Image, Wall of Roots, Rattleclaw Mystic, and Malevolent Hermit.
• Mana Value 3: Imperial Recruiter, Reclamation Sage, Wood Elves, Man-o'-War, Barrin, Master Wizard, and Pestermite.
• Mana Value 4: Purphoros, God of the Forge, Vizier of the Menagerie, Glen Elendra Archmage, Slithermuse, and Solemn Simulacrum.
• Mana Value 5: Wandering Archaic, Kiri-Onna, Surrak Dragonclaw, and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.
• Mana Value 6: Consecrated Sphinx, Soul of the Harvest, Primordial Sage, Deadeye Navigator, and Conduit of Ruin.
• Mana Value 7: Palinchron, Tishana, Voice of Thunder, Sifter Wurm, and Hullbreaker Horror.
• Mana Value 8: Maelstrom Wanderer, Craterhoof Behemoth, and Tidespout Tyrant.

#2. Kalamax, the Stormsire

Kalamax is a spell copy commander similar to Riku of Two Reflections, but it does it for free. But Kalamax only copies the first instant you cast each turn. While this restricts you to instants specifically, you can still cast one for free on each player’s turn. This supports an instant-based deck and theme which is pretty rare for a color wedge so focused on creature-based win conditions.

Having each instant be twice as powerful leads you to craft a deck that uses cards that get better the more you play them instead of those that are just good value. Mana ramp is a perfect example of this since being three lands ahead is a completely different ball game than being one land ahead. You want to maximize this advantage wherever possible.

So in addition to your commander’s duplication ability you also want to run some enchantments that do the same thing, like Swarm Intelligence and Double Vision. At worst these are a harder-to-remove backups to your commander that give you some consistency. But at best they take your spells from “great” to “game-winning.”

Comet Storm should be the first card that comes to mind in terms of instants that benefit from being copied. You’re already going to be far ahead on mana which means casting this for eight or nine damage with kicker 3 isn’t out of the picture. Duplicating that spell makes it a lethal threat, and it means you can potentially blow up the table for 10 to 20 damage per player in optimal conditions. The same could be said for other instants like Starstorm or Electrodominance. Spells like Fact or Fiction, Dig Through Time, and Manamorphose can pull you ahead in card advantage outside of direct damage and keep your engine turning throughout the end game.

I really enjoy Kalamax, the Stormsire as a commander. Something about copying a spell upwards of four or five turns just makes me all giggly. You’ll feel like you’re getting away with something when you play Kalamax and that’s what defines a great commander to me.

#1. Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm

Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm is the tops because it’s broken. Getting twice as many dragons into play lets you build an overwhelming board state and effectively doubles the value of your mana. The fact that the tokens are non-legendary lets you jam cards like Old Gnawbone without worrying about the legend rule.

Pack plenty of ramp into this deck. There are plenty of good options in Temur, like Three Visits and Nature's Lore, but dragons as a tribe also have great options in Dragonlord's Servant and Dragonspeaker Shaman. The goal is to turbo out Miirym as soon as possible to start making tokens.

There’s no end to the fantastic dragons you can play once you’ve got Miirym out. Baldur’s Gate brought us some excellent options in Ancient Copper Dragon and Ancient Silver Dragon. Utvara Hellkite and Lathliss, Dragon Queen let you keep the token value going.

Speaking of tokens, a natural inclusion for this deck is doubling effects to get more tokens. Doubling Season is the classic, but Parallel Lives and Adrix and Nev, Twincasters give you a similar effect for less mana and money. You can also get tons of value from Panharmonicon and flicker effects like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling for even more tokens, triggers, and copies since Miirym triggers on ETB.

Decklist: Maelstrom Wanderer Cascade in Commander

Maelstrom Wanderer | Illustration by Victor Adame Minguez

Of all the Temur commanders (and despite not being the most powerful), I see Maelstrom Wanderer as one of the most fun and beginner-friendly commanders in all of Magic. I think it provides a playstyle and general game plan that’s as fun as it is effective, and everyone loves playing huge spells for free.

This deck plays exactly how I explained Maelstrom plays in its ranking, which is to create cascade chains and extract extreme value whenever you cast a large cascade spell like your commander or Apex Devastator. Once you start this chain you can expect to continue to cascade into smaller and smaller creatures, ranging from Shardless Agent all the way to Sweet-Gum Recluse.

Of course, playing huge creatures with cascade can’t be done without appropriate ramp and mana and you have a wide array of options to chose from. The list includes the typical mana artifacts from Sol Ring to Chromatic Lantern plus the most playable mana dorks, like Birds of Paradise and Sylvan Caryatid.

You want to be able to hit eight mana as quickly as possible. Getting mana-screwed is akin to death with this list, and that’s obviously the last thing you want to happen.

In terms of game finishers, Apex Devastator and Warstorm Surge can usually wipe one or two opponents out altogether. Other than that you’re usually going to win with large board states that can’t be contended with. While this strategy is susceptible to board wipes and hard removal, this deck can rebuild really quickly which makes it much more consistent than other creature-based strategies.

Commanding Conclusion

Intet, the Dreamer | Illustration by Dan Scott

That wraps up the ranking for the top Temur commanders in Magic! I enjoyed putting together the Maelstrom Wanderer decklist. It was nostalgic and reminded me of getting absolutely crushed at age 13 by my friend Liam.

What did you think of the rankings? Were there any in particular that made your jaw drop to the floor when it wasn’t higher (or lower) on the list? Let me know in the comments down below or over on our official Draftsim Discord.

Temur not your preferred color trio? Check these out: Abzan, Bant, Esper, Grixis, Mardu, Jeskai, Jund, Naya, and Sultai.

Until next time, stay safe and stay healthy!