Rankings for All 37 Wilds of Eldraine Commanders

Last updated on November 28, 2023

Lord Skitter, Sewer King | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

It seems to be a pattern that after a disappointing end to a long built-up storyline, Magic brings us to Eldraine for a nice palate cleanser. Wilds of Eldraine brings along returning mechanics from our first visit, like adventure spells and Food tokens. It also gives us a better look at faeries of the world as well as some of the other denizens that were shifted to the side with Throne of Eldraine’s focus on the knights and nobles of the land. Like any Magic set, the return to Eldraine also brings with it a host of new commanders to build decks around.

Maybe it’s just because the last few sets have had so many, but there seems to have been a conscious effort on Wizards’ part to cut down on the number of new commanders in this set. Yes, there are still plenty of legendary creatures, but the percentage of ones that feel like they were designed specifically to be commanders seems a bit lower. That isn’t a bad thing by any means, and it’s nice to see more legends being printed that seem to be geared towards other Constructed formats. There are also still some very exciting commanders in this set that I’m looking forward to playing with, so don’t think because there are less than say the 80+ new commanders in Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth that there aren’t any good options.

When ranking these commanders, I did my best to evaluate how good I think they are specifically as commanders, not just as cards in general. This means some cards that I really enjoy are still near the bottom of the list because I think their place is either in the 99 or other formats. With the set being brand new, it’s also possible that some of these cards have more potential than is readily apparent. If you see any fun build ideas or think a card is more powerful than the ranking I’ve given it, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

How Many Commanders Are There in Wilds of Eldraine?

Ruby, Daring Tracker | Illustration by Ekaterina Burmak

In total, there are 37 commanders in Wilds of Eldraine. 31 are brand new cards spread between the set and supplemental Commander decks, and the other 6 are reprinted cards from the WOE Commander precons.

#37. Ash, Party Crasher

Ash, Party Crasher asks a lot of you for very little in return with its celebration ability. In a color combination like Boros , I’d really want more out of my commander than slowly buffing itself.

#36. Sharae of Numbing Depths

If it weren’t for the “only once each turn” part of its effect, Sharae of Numbing Depths would be a very interesting commander. As is, I don’t think this card offers nearly enough utility to make it the best choice to build around, especially at 4 mana.

#35. Goddric, Cloaked Reveler

Goddric, Cloaked Reveler is the perfect example of a card I really like, but not necessarily as a commander. One interesting build I could see for Goddric is a treasure deck. If you’re generating a bunch of Treasure with a card like Descent into Avernus each turn, Goddric could threaten opponents with commander damage if you pump all that extra mana into its fire-breathing ability.

#34. Ruby, Daring Tracker

A mana dork with haste is good value, and having Ruby, Daring Tracker in the command zone could be a nice way to ensure you have some extra mana early in the game. While its effect isn’t anything too splashy, this extra bit of consistency could be all a well-constructed Gruul could needs to ramp into an early threat.

#33. Old Flitterfang

Old Flitterfang has the potential to generate a lot of Food tokens each trip around the table. While I’m not wholly convinced a mono-black deck has access to that many helpful food effects, there are ways to take advantage of having some extra artifact tokens that you’re able to make for free each turn.

#32. Neva, Stalked by Nightmares

Neva, Stalked by Nightmares has the potential to get a good number of counters in a sacrifice deck that includes lots of enchantment creatures and/or auras. Scrying can also be a helpful way to keep your game consistent. That said, there are just much better options for this sort of archetype in the same color scheme for similar mana costs.

#31. Lord Skitter, Sewer King

Lord Skitter, Sewer King can be a nice bit of graveyard hate, and its consistent token generation can be very powerful in rat decks which often benefit from having more of the creature type on the field. This card would likely be higher on the list, but there are already lots of great rat commanders in mono-black, and I’m just not sure this one measures up to the best of the best.

#30. Syr Armont, the Redeemer

Selesnya enchantment decks can be very strong, and if you want to have an anthem on hand at all times in one of these decks Syr Armont, the Redeemer gives you the option. That said, this commander won’t do much else for you so this card may be better off in the 99 of a Sythis, Harvest's Hand deck.

#29. Johann, Apprentice Sorcerer

Every so often when I’m writing, I hit a card that’s so painfully average that it stops my momentum dead and I have to take a break. Johann, Apprentice Sorcerer is that card for Wilds of Eldraine. It isn’t bad, and you could probably find some fun ways to take advantage of top-decking effects, but it isn’t anything super exciting.

#28. Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender

Flavor-wise, Syr Ginger, the Meal Ender is one of my favorite cards in the set, and that’s not just a cookie pun. It’s great to see this character from the original Throne of Eldraine trailer get printed onto a card in this set, and I think this card has the potential to buff itself significantly in the right deck. It’s also likely in a 4-player game that at least one opponent has a planeswalker or two in their deck, making it more likely this card gains its keyword abilities.

#27. Obyra, Dreaming Duelist

Obyra, Dreaming Duelist offers faerie typal decks a way to whittle away at your opponents’ life totals by doing what you’d be doing anyway. It’s the type of commander that you can get out early and likely won’t be removed right away, so it can probably do a decent amount of damage. This card isn’t likely to win you a game out right at any point, but not all commanders are built to do that, especially the cheap ones.

#26. The Goose Mother

The Goose Mother is part of Wizards’ effort to make Food tokens have more utility. While it may be a bit tired to see on a Simic commander, card draw is an excellent way to make food more helpful. Thanks to having flying, this card can likely attack at least one player unblocked, allowing you to make use of its draw ability.

#25. Greta, Sweettooth Scourge

Greta, Sweettooth Scourge is another good option for a food commander. I like that it gives Food tokens multiple uses and that these abilities can be activated multiple times a turn. I could also see this slotting nicely into the 99 of a food-focused deck, perhaps an Abzan build that utilizes some of the tools from the Food and Fellowship precon.

#24. Troyan, Gutsy Explorer

There are a couple directions you could take a Troyan, Gutsy Explorer deck since Simic has good options for both X spells and large mana spells. Having a way to cycle through cards on your commander isn’t bad either.

#23. Danitha Capashen, Paragon

Danitha Capashen, Paragon is a decent Voltron commander thanks to its cost reduction. Its keywords also make it a good creature to stack buffs on, which is always a plus for an equipment– and/or aura-based deck.

#22. Rankle, Master of Pranks

Rankle, Master of Pranks has lots of utility and is easy to activate. Building around its discard effect is one of the best ways to take advantage of this commander, with its other abilities being used more situationally in that kind of deck.

#21. Shalai, Voice of Plenty

Shalai, Voice of Plenty’s main function as a commander is to be removed instead of your other, more powerful permanents. While not the most glorious job, Shalai does a great job of keeping the threats you need on the board and protecting you from direct damage or targeted discard, which can also slow you down.

#20. Totentanz, Swarm Piper

Totentanz, Swarm Piper makes for a good Rakdos sacrifice commander since you’ll be able to get two bodies out of any nontoken creature you play. Its ability to grant rats deathtouch can also be handy if you want to remove some of your opponents blockers.

#19. Siona, Captain of the Pyleas

Siona, Captain of the Pyleas allows you to cast helpful auras while also creating creatures, something you typically have to choose between early in the game. This also helps make it more likely that you’ll have a body to attach any aura you draw to, even if it’s just a 1/1 token.

#18. Beluna Grandsquall

Beluna Grandsquall is a very powerful attacker for only 3 mana. It’s also nice to see a commander that’s specifically geared toward adventure spells. This commander’s adventure ability synergizes very well with its built-in cost reduction, but if you already have gas in your hand you can just play it for its cheaper cost and benefit from the static ability right away.

#17. Talion, the Kindly Lord

Talion, the Kindly Lord can give you a lot of added value over time, depending on the number that you choose. While I haven’t crunched the numbers myself, I’m sure you can find which ones are most likely to appear. While this kind of random ability offers an inconsistent game, I think Talion likely pays off more often than you might expect.

#16. Nymris, Oona’s Trickster

Nymris, Oona's Trickster works really well as the commander for decks that run lots of flash cards and/or counterspells. Dimir is also a good color combination for using your graveyard as a resource, so Nymris’ ability is like two different kinds of card advantage in one.

#15. Hylda of the Icy Crown

Hylda of the Icy Crown, and all three witch sisters in general, have one of my favorite qualities in a commander: adding value to cards that might not otherwise see play. Cards like Rush of Ice or Gideon's Lawkeeper that I normally wouldn’t play outside of Limited are suddenly cheap ways to draw cards, create powerful tokens, or buff all your creatures. Because lots of these spells are low-cost, Hylda can likely be activated multiple times per turn.

#14. Agatha of the Vile Cauldron

Just like spells, activated abilities scale in power with their mana cost. If you buff Agatha of the Vile Cauldron enough, you can take advantage of abilities that you might not otherwise see as viable due to how expensive they are normally. Cards like Frontier Guide and Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink get lots more useful when their abilities are cheaper. You can also get a huge positive mana swing from Soulbright Flamekin.

#13. Will, Scion of Peace

White has plenty of good lifegain cards that allow you to take advantage of Will, Scion of Peace’s cost reduction ability. Combined with the big splashy spells you can cast in blue, I can see this commander being pretty powerful if built right. You’ll want to include ways to gain life consistently that don’t cost additional mana to get the most out of this ability.

#12. Kellan, the Fae-Blooded

While not as absolutely broken as his dad Oko, Kellan, the Fae-Blooded is still a powerful commander for an equipment deck. Its 2-mana costs are perfect for you to start with the adventure and then cast it the following turn, and having double strike makes all your equipment and auras attached to it doubly effective at increasing his power.

#11. Imodane, the Pyrohammer

Imodane, the Pyrohammer is one of those cards that gets better the more you think about it. Your burn spells like Lightning Bolt now aren’t just for removal but are also taking away from all your opponents’ life totals. Burn spells that only hit creatures also have a better mana to damage ratio than ones that can hit any target, meaning cards like Lightning Axe can do 5 damage to each opponent for as little as one mana.

On top of that, cards like Banefire or Fireball now don’t have to be directed at just a single opponent. You can instead target a creature, even one of your own, and take out all your opponents at once if you have enough mana.

#10. Brenard, Ginger Sculptor

Brenard, Ginger Sculptor isn’t the best commander in the set, but it’s my personal favorite. It makes it difficult for your opponents to permanently remove your best creatures, and you can double dip on powerful ETB effects when your creatures die. It also buffs any of the tokens it makes, as well as fun food creatures like Gingerbrute.

#9. Gylwain, Casting Director

By giving each of your creatures a role, Gylwain, Casting Director makes them each just a bit more powerful. While this may not be the splashiest effect on an individual basis, it only gets better the more creatures you play. The roles you choose also offer a few different types of utility, allowing you to add meaningful abilities to your creatures as needed.

#8. Oona, Queen of the Fae

Oona, Queen of the Fae not only takes resources away from your opponents, but it can also make you a lot of tokens, especially if you’re facing at least one mono-color deck. Its ability synergizes well with cards that bounce your opponents’ cards back to their library and can help you fend off cards like Approach of the Second Sun.

#7. Ellivere of the Wild Court

It takes a lot for a new Selesnya enchantment commander to stand up to the competition, but I think Ellivere of the Wild Court has what it takes. It can make even the weakest creatures very powerful in an enchantment deck, and as long as you have a Maze of Ith or some other way to keep Ellivere safe while attacking, you can easily distribute a role to your creatures.

#6. Alela, Cunning Conqueror

Dimir faerie decks have access to plenty of instants and flash cards that you can use to generate a lot of tokens with Alela, Cunning Conqueror. Faeries are all pretty evasive, so you’ll be able to goad your opponents’ creatures pretty regularly.

#5. Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor

It was difficult for me to choose between Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor and Alela, Cunning Conqueror, but I think card draw is more consistently helpful than goading even if it can’t ever reach the same heights. The anthem on Tegwyll is also very nice, especially if you’re planning to go wide with flying creatures.

#4. Eriette of the Charmed Apple

Of the three witch sisters, I think Eriette of the Charmed Apple is the most powerful. It can keep you safe from your opponents’ attackers while slowly draining life from the entire table. Orzhov has plenty of good payoffs for lifegain and life drain, and there are plenty of auras you can choose from in the two colors.

#3. Korvold, Gleeful Glutton

Korvold, Gleeful Glutton’s cost reduction is pretty easy to take advantage of in Commander between fetch lands, Treasure tokens, and plenty of ways to sacrifice creatures. As soon as it hits the battlefield, it can start dealing damage and buffing itself, while also drawing you a good number of cards. It’s hard to choose between this Korvold and the original, but it’s always nice to see when the same character is consistently good from card to card.

#2. Rowan, Scion of War

Rowan, Scion of War has essentially the inverse effect of Will, Scion of Peace. What makes Rowan so much more powerful is that there are lots of ways in Rakdos to pay life for good effects. Combined with Rowan’s activated ability, you’re essentially also getting generic mana on top of whatever benefit you paid for with cards like Bolas's Citadel or Necropotence.

#1. Yenna, Redtooth Regent

Selesnya enchantment commanders are so common that there’s three in this set alone. Still, Yenna, Redtooth Regent is so good that it’s the best commander in this set, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you start seeing it used pretty frequently. Being able to copy one or more of your enchantments each turn is very powerful, especially with enchantments like Sterling Grove.

Commanding Conclusion

Rowan, Scion of War | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Though Wilds of Eldraine doesn’t have nearly as many new viable commanders as some other recent sets, this is definitely an example of quality over quantity. The better commanders in this set are some of the most exciting I’ve seen in a while, and it’s cool to see another Eldraine set deliver. If Wizards keeps this streak up, I’ll be looking forward to each future visit to the plane.

Which commanders from Wilds of Eldraine are you most excited for? Are there any you think are more powerful than I gave them credit for? Let me know in the comments or on Draftsim’s Twitter.

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