The Best 2-Mana Commanders in Magic Ranked

Thrasios, Triton Hero | Illustration by Caroline Gariba

Commander is a much faster game than it used to be. When we talk about the “old days” of “Battlecruiser Commander,” we imagine slow games of janky 7-drops cast on the backs of 3-drop mana rocks. But as we get more and more legendary creatures at the 1- and 2-mana point, sometimes it feels like my 4-drop generals can be too slow even at some casual tables.

So let’s talk 2-drops. Commanders you can reliably get out early are great, and if they have some power in 2-color synergies, so much the better. What’s the best? Let’s dig in!

What Are 2-Mana Commanders in MTG?

Balmor, Battlemage Captain | Illustration by Bram Sels

Two-drop commanders in MTG are legendary creatures that you can play as your commander, with an exact mana value of 2. That means we are excluding cards that can be alternately cast for 2, like bane of the universe, Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. It also means we are dropping commanders that cost 2 mana plus X, like Verazol, the Split Current.

We are including partners, friends forever, Doctor’s companions, and even backgrounds here. So more than 300 options. I’m sure I’m gonna leave your fave out, especially because we’re going to be covering the most powerful of these commanders. Ready?

#30. Sorin of House Markov + Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim

Both of these commanders do Orzhov aristocrats quite well. There are commanders all over the cost spectrum in that space, but both of these support your combos from the command zone, although in slightly different ways. Sorin of House Markov is slight drain and removal. Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim is heavier drain.

#29. Mendicant Core, Guidelight

Next year, this deck will be higher as people figure it out. Get lots of artifacts out, get Mendicant Core, Guidelight huge, and then have stuff like K-9, Mark I out to punch through. I’ve also seen builds that try to get to max speed as quickly as possible. Unfocused, as of yet, probably because there are already too many powerful artifacts and artifact commanders.

#28. Balmor, Battlemage Captain

Balmor, Battlemage Captain can pilot your favorite Izzet deck just fine, whether it’s prowess, storm, combo, control, whatever. They won’t do it as well as your favorite commander, but Balmor will get the job done. I think this card would see a ton of play were it in any other color pair.

#27. Lavinia, Azorius Renegade

The real Fun Police are a bit later on this list, but Lavinia, Azorius Renegade can stax up your life pretty well.

#26. Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff

Paired with Lurrus of the Dream-Den, Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff comes down on turn 2 and just starts ramping right away. There’s attempts to get this going in cEDH, but this is really mostly a fast and powerful casual deck with a lot of resources and recursion. Orzhov grindfest.

#25. Giada, Font of Hope

The most popular casual commander we have at 2 mana, I think, Giada, Font of Hope is just throwing down angel ramp. And as the sweet sounds of Steven Tyler crooning for someone to come and save him to-ni-y-ight echo across the LGS, me in the corner, me in the spotlight, losing my patience, is wishing the table hadn’t been hounding me all those weeks to reduce the number of board wipes I run.

#24. Baral, Chief of Compliance

When there’s somethin’ weird, in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? When other people are having fun, and it don’t look good, who you gonna call? Baral, Chief of Compliance! When you absolutely, positively, have to murder every last bit of fun in the room, it’s Baralin’ Time!

Pop culture references aside, you can build this as a Talrand, Sky Summoner style tokens deck. But no one will believe you for a second when you say that’s what this deck does.

#23. Gaddock Teeg

Hold up! You say Slimer snuck down Fun Alley past Baral? There’s a player just trying to cast stompy creatures and enjoy their night? Gaddock Teeg can put a stop to that! He can chomp on his cigarette and bash you about the head and shoulder with his shillelagh for daring to try those shenanigans, whipper snappers!

#22. Kwain, Itinerant Meddler

I will bet that Kwain, Itinerant Meddler is up in the top tier in a few years when the right combo pieces get printed. Right now, the deck builds are all over the place (very wabbity!). There’s stax, political/group hug, combo stuff like Laboratory Maniac or Triskaidekaphile, Twenty-Toed Toad, etc.

#21. Karlov of the Ghost Council

Is this the best of the non cEDH tier of 2-mana commanders? I dunno, but it sure seems to be the most beloved. Machine gunning the table and then smashing people with commander damage is just good, clean fun! Karlov of the Ghost Council with lifegain alone is pretty sweet. Add Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and other drain and gain cards, and that’s the game, folks.

#20. Lonis, Cryptozoologist

There are casual things you can do, getting cute with clues, but the best Lonis, Cryptozoologist is a classic elfball deck that adds blue interaction, stuff like Rhystic Study and, well, sure, Urza, Lord High Artificer. There are people who swear this is cEDH.

The rest of the top 20 are varying degrees of cEDH. So beware if you have an underpowered, casual version of the following commanders, as you may have sleeved up knives while the table thinks you brought nukes.

#19. Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons

Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons is an interesting deck to play. You have a lot of ways to go, from being controlling with those -1/-1 counters, tutoring for stax-y things like Collector Ouphe, tutoring various combo pieces of the Yawgmoth, Thran Physician variety or the Ivy Lane Denizen and Scurry Oak world, or even just finding Fynn, the Fangbearer and poisoning the lot.

#18. Dina, Soul Steeper

Drain life. Gain life. Keep on doing that. Sometimes infinitely. You know this deck and the drill here, with stuff like Blood Artist and the Sanguine Bond plus Exquisite Blood combo. Dina, Soul Steeper is cheap, and those effects are easy to understand and fun (for the player), so a lot of folks will sling this deck not knowing it’s the edge of cEDH playable and this deck will scare the table.

#17. Jhoira, Ageless Innovator

Pour one out for everyone who was cramming infinite combo ideas in 2015! Jhoira, Ageless Innovator is here to take you, ageless innovator, and give you a home for all that janky awesome stuff, like Mirran Spy, Altar of the Brood, and Isochron Scepter! Let’s go!!

You know the idea. Find ways to untap and go off. You can even storm into Underworld Breach and Brain Freeze or whatever other Vintage Cube stuff you wanna try. You need to play a lot of disruption to survive long enough to start untapping, so an Izzet shell, plus whatever “Uptown Funk” era combos you wanna roll with, and you’re there.

If finding out that that song is 10 years old is traumatic for you, ask your doctor if this deck is right for you.

#16. Saheeli, the Sun’s Brilliance

When you first saw this card, didn't you know it was going to be a combo fest? Well, it is! There are many approaches and ways to go infinite, but let’s just start with Intruder Alarm, and I think you can get your brain rolling on other ideas for Saheeli, the Sun's Brilliance.

#15. Ral, Monsoon Mage / Ral, Leyline Prodigy

Ral, Monsoon Mage is not the easiest storm deck to pilot (and I know the idea of an easy cEDH storm deck sounds ludicrous on its face!), and this deck doesn’t even make some folks’ cEDH tier lists, but Ral decks are starting to put down tournament wins.

#14. Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice

You put on those protection pants, get swole, draw cards, and lob stax pieces to slow everyone else down. It’s a tough deck to find your footing against, as it just kind of self propels as Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice just keeps trucking.

#13. Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger

Hand disruption! You know 90s boomers are on this deck, telling their dusty old stories about Hypnotic Specter (guilty!) as they try to outthink the card advantage engines at cEDH tables. There’s a cute combo which uses Animate Dead on Worldgorger Dragon to keep blinking your board, netting mana, which you can then use to kill everyone by repeatedly casting Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger. There’s a fiendishly difficult combo with Hoarding Broodlord if you're feeling this idea and wanna go deep.

#12. Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator + Rona, Herald of Invasion / Rona, Tolarian Obliterator

These have different combos and abilities in connection with their classic cEDH wincoms, like Doomsday, Ad Nauseam, Thassa's Oracle, etc. Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator can get you back a spell at the right time, which probably makes them better overall, but untapping Rona, Herald of Invasion lets you see another card. So pick your preferred structure.

#11. Oswald Fiddlebender

Oswald Fiddlebender does the Birthing Pod thing for artifacts, and along the way you can grab stax pieces. This deck always flirts at the low level of cEDH playability.

#10. Sythis, Harvest’s Hand

Isn’t this card the groan test at a “casual” table? Doesn’t the person slinging this deck tend to say things like “It’s okay, it’s not that Sythis deck!” And isn't it always that Sythis deck? Every. Time.

You hate this card or you have a deck commanded by this card. Those are the options. Sythis, Harvest's Hand is a card draw enchantress good enough that people try it in cEDH.

#9. Ezio, Auditore da Firenze + Jensen Carthalion, Druid Exile

Waning a bit after last year’s excitement, Ezio Auditore da Firenze is a fun casual assassin typal commander, but the real reason folks tried to make this work in cEDH was that it’s a 5-color 2-drop commander with nary an assassin in the deck. But you have paths to Ad Nauseam. #cedhthings

Same thing’s up with Jenson Carthalion, Druid Exile which is mostly a 5-color pile that runs Lurrus of the Dream-Den.

#8 Wernog, Rider’s Champion + Bjorna, Nightfall Alchemist

This Stranger Things pairing does all the things you think you want in a multicolor cEDH deck, but it also allows you to run Lurrus of the Dream-Den as companion, and you don’t even have to play cEDH to know how powerful that option is. Will the Wise/Wernog, Rider's Chaplain can also lend itself to blink strategies. I don’t often see Lucas, the Sharpshooter/Bjorna, Nightfall Alchemist do a lot besides add the Izzet to the mix, but the goad potential is there if needed.

#7. Francisco, Fowl Marauder

An intriguing partner that's climbing the charts, Francisco, Fowl Marauder is a good pairing with Malcom, Keen-Eyed Navigator and Thrasios, Triton Hero, primarily because of it’s easy-to-assemble infinite combo rooted in the command zone with Walking Ballista and Agatha's Soul Cauldron.

#6. Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar

Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar partnered with Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator used to be the thing of things in cEDH. Quick, with various stormy and treasurey options and a lot of wincons, Kediss allows you to spread the combat damage love for efficiency. This is still a potent partnership, but there’s been a lot of powerful cards printed since this was minted five years ago! (Yikes!)

#5. Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist

This car has raced its way across the omenpaths to the top of the cEDH and high powered casual metas really quickly. Take your favorite Esper EDH control brew, and Hashaton, Scarab's Fist can probably do it better. But then get some cheap discard outlets and a suite of annoying creatures to drop in the bin, and you’ve got even more to do.

#4. Krark, the Thumbless

Bets buddies with Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, Krark, the Thumbless can help you storm off with Brain Freeze combos, as well as the smashing table with Dualcaster Mage combos.

#3. Magda, Brazen Outlaw

Add a Clock of Omens, dwarves, and artifacts, and there are a lot of ways to go off with Magda, Brazen Outlaw while tutoring for a suite of artifact wincons.

#2. Thrasios, Triton Hero

In the cEDH space, not only does Thrasios, Triton Hero give you the colors you want in your Tymna the Weaver or Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools deck, but it also provides a key piece of the deck, in giving you access to something to do with infinite mana in the command zone.

#1. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

There are quite a number of more powerful cEDH decks than Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy at any given time, but since this card dropped in Ikoria, it has been a mainstay at the top of the cEDH meta. It is a clear and powerful piece of ramp in the command zone in colors that allow you to protect it. Even before it was labeled a Game Changer, you knew there was a problem if someone called their Kinnan deck a 7.

Commanding Conclusion

Baral, Chief of Compliance | Illustration by Wesley Burt

I know you have a favorite that didn’t make the cut. I know I have several. Like I said there’s more than 300 when you count the backgrounds. Yet five years ago there were closer to 75. And we know there’s just a lot of cards of all kinds being printed since then, but the focus on 2-mana legendary creatures has been intense. And the competition keeps heating up.

The top 10 here will be different in five years, guaranteed. I think that’s interesting and exciting, but then again, I love deckbuilding. How about you? Does this just make you want to take a nap? Let us know in the comments or on Discord. And maybe grab that nap anyway.

Happy brewing!