All 17 Treefolk Commanders in Magic Ranked

Doran, the Siege Tower | Illustration by Rob Alexander

Typal sets are always fun for me because I love to find new typal commanders. Bloomburrow was a feast for me, but Lorwyn Eclipsed has visited other creature types that needed an update, including treefolk.

Treefolk commanders aren’t the most powerful, but I dare say that they bring a lot of fun to the right Commander pod. After all, every table needs someone to represent the interests of nature, so why not you?

What Are Treefolk Commanders in MTG?

Doran, Besieged by Time | Illustration by Carl Critchlow

Treefolk commanders are any legendary treefolk creatures, as well as other eligible commanders that call out treefolk in their rules text. All treefolk commanders as of Lorwyn Eclipsed have green in their color identity (it should be obvious why), and most of them fit into Abzan () colors.

I’ve ranked these commanders based both on how they fare as commanders in general and how well they support a treefolk theme.

#17. Quickbeam, Upstart Ent

Quickbeam, Upstart Ent just isn’t a good commander. It costs 6 mana, and it doesn’t do much to advance your gameplan. If you can’t cast treefolk or make treefolk tokens consistently, Quickbeam just sits around as a do-nothing 5/6.

#16. Kurbis, Harvest Celebrant

Kurbis, Harvest Celebrant just doesn't have a good color identity to front a +1/+1 counters deck, and the damage prevention ability is too hyper-specific. An opponent can flicker or airbend your creature to take the +1/+1 counters away in most cases anyway.

#15. Harold and Bob, First Numens

If you’ve played Fallout 3, you know that by this point in the story, Harold very much wants to die. That makes this card’s ability flavorful, but as a commander? Meh. Especially since Harold and Bob, First Numens needs you to understand how rad counters work. I guess it’s fine as a ramp commander with a certain amount of mill, but what’s your win condition?

#14. Nemata, Grove Guardian

If you want a saproling commander, there’s plenty of other options for the job. May I recommend Shroofus Sproutsire or Slimefoot, the Stowaway? Nemata, Grove Guardian is a fine support piece in those decks, but it’s rather underwhelming on its own.

#13. Verdeloth the Ancient

A big weakness of treefolk commanders is a high mana cost that ties with their usual big toughness stats. Verdeloth the Ancient also suffers from a kicker ability with an X cost. Sure, Verdeloth is a typal lord that gives +1/+1, but you should really play it in the 99 of other decks if anything.

#12. Old Man Willow

This is probably the Chatterfang player in me speaking, but I wish Old Man Willow’s sacrifice outlet were a little more repeatable. -2/-2 only kills mana dorks and tokens; otherwise, it might make an opponent hesitant to block your commander if the numbers are in your favor. But yeah, nothing much to talk about here.

#11. Sapling of Colfenor

I appreciate an indestructible treefolk, but you can see how Sapling of Colfenor and its attack trigger would fit better alongside other toughness commanders, right? It has the perfect type of trigger to support Betor, Ancestor's Voice, for example. You can build around it, and I’ve even seen an Umori, the Collector companion build with Sapling of Colfenor, but for what it does, I’d rather have something else in the command zone.

#10. Colfenor, the Last Yew

I may have Colfenor, the Last Yew and Sapling of Colfenor back-to-back, but there’s a gulf between them. You’re still building a toughness deck with Colfenor, but you can do some interesting things here. You can build some kind of treefolk aristocrats deck that sacrifices big creatures to recur other big creatures to your hand.

#9. Nemata, Primeval Warden

Nemata, Primeval Warden is primarily built around saprolings, and it gives you the fodder you need to buff it up or draw cards. Just add mana! These colors have lots of sacrifice outlets that can drain your opponents’ life or give you Treasure tokens, not to mention the edicts like Dictate of Erebos. It just isn’t played as much as 3-mana options like Slimefoot, the Stowaway and The Mycotyrant.

#8. Kirri, Talented Sprout

A programming note: While many cards have received an errata that replaces “postcombat main phase” with “second main phase”, Kirri, Talented Sprout has received one that states “each of your postcombat main phases”. You know what that means: Naya () infinite combats!

Aside from that, Kirri is a lord for plants and treefolk, and it lets you play obscure cards like Mirrorwood Treefolk and Foxfire Oak in a typal deck. Kirri isn’t the most powerful commander, but it certainly is unique.

#7. Fangorn, Tree Shepherd

Who says you can’t run an 8-mana commander? To be fair, Fangorn, Tree Shepherd is probably “only” a casual commander, but I like the vibe. Play treefolk, and try to ramp the heck out. Maybe even roleplay as the forest itself. Lorwyn Eclipsed has added new weapons to its arsenal, like Sapling Nursery, a thematic mana dork in Great Forest Druid, and Tend the Sprigs as a ramp spell that can also add a treefolk token.

#6. Treebeard, Gracious Host

Treebeard, Gracious Host occupies a very interesting slice of what Selesnya () colors often do: lifegain and +1/+1 counters. But make it typal! Well, dual typal, between halflings and treefolk. This treefolk lets you run budget mass lifegain cards like Congregate, Predator's Rapport, and Riot Control to make an individual creature huge. Is it a flavor foul to build the Scurry Oak and Ivy Lane Denizen combo in this deck because you’d be infesting your treefolk with Squirrels? Let me know in the comments.

#5. Ferrafor, Young Yew

Ferrafor, Young Yew cares about counters, but it doesn’t specify which types of counters. Its enters trigger will create a Saproling token for your lore counters, loyalty counters, charge counters, keyword counters, and of course +1/+1 counters.

#4. Six

Six is the representative lands commander among treefolk, and a really solid card. You can give retrace to Aftermath Analyst with it so you can always bring your lands back after you send them to the graveyard. Pack in your favorite Exploration and Conduit of Worlds clones, some landfall abilities, and some ramp, and you’ve got a deck. This is pretty much the more evolved form of a Fangorn, Tree Shepherd deck.

#3. Yedora, Grave Gardener

A neat thing about Yedora, Grave Gardener is that it gives a home to nearly 40 morph creatures that you can play in a mono-green deck. If you’re into that sort of thing. There’s a weird combo you can put together with Yedora, a free sacrifice outlet, and Temur Charger that gives all your creatures trample, as long as you have a green card in your hand to reveal as part of the horse’s morph cost.

#2. Doran, the Siege Tower

Doran, the Siege Tower has fallen off a fair bit when you consider that Felothar the Steadfast costs 1 more mana and does so much. Doran encourages you to build a toughness-matters deck around big butts, and it messes with how everyone’s creatures deal combat damage, but it stops there. It does nothing about defender, though that’s surprisingly not as relevant as you’d think if you build a treefolk deck around it.

#1. Doran, Besieged by Time

I’m very bullish on Doran, Besieged by Time, a treefolk commander that adds a wrinkle to the toughness-matters deck. It cares about the gap between your creatures’ power and toughness rather than just their toughness, so you’re incentivized to go for a form of efficiency. It makes The Walls of Ba Sing Se even more of a problem, and the cost reduction really helps because this deck is going to be mana-hungry. It’s also asymmetrical unlike the previous Doran and is built in a way that only buffs your creatures.

Commanding Conclusion

Fangorn, Tree Shepherd | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

Treefolk have some overall weak commanders, but there’s a lot of fun to be had with them at lower power tables. I bet there’s a few flavorful Bracket 1 decks to be built here. If you’re the type who likes alters and proxies, you need to get one of your commander as the Lorax, with the flavor text: “I speak for the trees.”

Which treefolk commanders do you bring to your Command pod? Did I over or underrate the Lorwyn Eclipsed treefolk? Let me know in the comments or over on the Draftsim Discord.

Until next time, keep growin’!