10 Best Planeswalkers That Can Be Your Commander

Planeswalkers can’t be your commander in EDH.

It’s one of the rules that annoys some fans and keeps the whole format in check according to others.

Thankfully, it’s also one of those rules that has just a whole bunch of exceptions.

So, here are the ten best Planeswalkers that be your Commander.

The 10 best Planeswalkers that can be your Commander

It is, of course, worth noting that Brawl changes this whole thing up completely, so we’ll do another list for that at some point.

This one is all about the OG Commander format, and we’re taking a look at the wonderful Planeswalkers you can use to just ruin your friend’s day.

Not that we’re saying that you should ruin their day, make sure they’re trying to do the same to you first, otherwise it just seems cruel.

10 – Teferi, Temporal Archmage

We’re just gonna quickly state that while we love Teferi, Temporal Archmage, we think he is at his best when he’s in a five-color Planeswalker deck, and not at the helm of his own Commander deck. That being said, he’s still pretty potent, and as we get more Planeswalkers that are mono Blue, he becomes even more powerful.

Teferi costs six mana and his first ability lets you draw one of the top two cards of your library, and put the other to the bottom. His second ability is kind of obnoxious; it lets you untap up top four permanents, which means you can probably cast something that costs eleven mana the turn after you play him if you want. Finally, his ultimate gives you an emblem that lets you activate Planeswalker abilities at instant speed and on any player’s turn. That means if you fill your deck with Planeswalkers, you suddenly have access to an army of effects to use whenever you want. This will make you a target, but you probably knew that already.

9 – Freyalise, Llanowar’s Fury

Next up is Freyalise, Llanowar’s Fury. Freyalise is an excellent commander for an Elf deck. She’s also just good for any deck that wants to be playing a lot of Green Creatures and can generate a lot of mana. For five mana you get a Planeswalker that can create a 1/1 Elf Druid that can tap for one Green mana, she can destroy an Enchantment or Artifact, and her ultimate lets you draw a card for each Green Creature you control.

This basically allows her to be one of the best commanders around for a good old-fashioned Creature deck. So, if what you want is to either put out an infinite supply of Elves (you can’t use Tyvar though), or what you want is to put out armies of big old monsters, then Freyalise is a good choice for you. She’s also got a cool eyepatch, and that’s awesome.

8 – Jace, Vyrn’s Prodigy // Jace, Telepath Unbound

We finally come to the first of three Creature Planeswalkers, and this is one from all the way back in Magic Origins. Jace, Vyrn’s Prodigy was one of the most obnoxiously expensive cards in a very expensive period of Standard. The reason for this is that he let you draw and discard cards, which is nice, but was more because he could transform into a Planeswalker.

Jace, Telepath Unbound could lower the power of one Creature as his first ability. It’s fine, but not magnificent. The main thing here is that Jace can allow you to cast an Instant or Sorcery from your graveyard. This is probably the big one here, and it allows you to build an imposing control deck with Jace at the helm. Finally, you’ll need a win-con, so his ultimate gives you an emblem that mills your opponent for five cards every time you cast a spell.

7 – Valki, God of Lies // Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor

Our second Creature Planeswalker is one that you don’t have to put any effort in to play as a Planeswalker. That’s right; it’s good old Valki/Tibalt. Valki is a two-mana Creature that comes in, exiles a Creature card from every opponent’s hand, and can then become that Creature. The main attraction here though, is Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor, who is a seven-mana Black and Red Planeswalker.

Tibalt gives you an emblem that allows you to play any cards he exiles, even if he’s not on the battlefield, and even lets you use mana as though it were mana of any color. His first ability exiles the top card of every player’s library, the second ability exiles a Creature or an Artifact, and his ultimate exiles all cards from all graveyards and also gives you three Red mana. This card is all about stealing everyone else’s cards and very little else, and that’s a lot of fun.

6 – Saheeli, the Gifted

Saheeli, the Gifted is a four-mana Blue and Red Planeswalker that is an excellent choice for any deck that wants to make lots of Artifacts and also copy those Artifacts. Artifact decks can do a lot of different things in Commander, and this particular version makes for a lot of fun as it’s very hard to beat up an army that comes out of nowhere.

Her first ability makes a 1/1 Servo token, which is mediocre at best. However, she can also make your next spell one generic mana cheaper for each Artifact you control, which is huge given that a lot of the best Artifacts only cost generic mana anyway. Finally, her ultimate creates a token copy of every Artifact you control and also gives them haste. This allows you to copy basically everything on your side of the battlefield, and it can quickly end the game in a combo or a huge attack. Saheeli is indeed gifted.

5 – Rowan Kenrith and Will Kenrith

We’ve got two Planeswalkers here because they both partner with each other, so they’re basically just one really long really complicated card. Rowan Kenrith is a six-mana Red Planeswalker that can make your opponents have to attack, deal damage to tapped creatures, and also grant you an emblem that will copy any activated ability that isn’t a mana ability. Yes, that includes Planeswalker abilities.

Will is a six-mana Blue Planeswalker that can make two creatures effectively useless, draw you some cards and make your cards cheaper to cast, and also grants an emblem which copies your Instant and Sorcery spells. Needless to say, given the powerful cards that Blue and Red have access to in Commander, these two make for a somewhat overwhelming duo.

4 – Estrid, the Masked

Playing a deck based on Enchantments can be a lot of fun. There are plenty of great choices out there, but Estrid, the Masked might just be at the top of the pile here. For four-mana in Bant colours, Estrid can easily take over any game thanks to her three abilities; you just have to make sure you’re all-in on Enchantments.

Her first ability lets you untap every enchanted permanent you control. That means lands, potentially Planeswalkers, and almost definitely Creatures. We don’t have to explain why having loads of mana is powerful now, do we? Her second ability allows you to enchant any permanent with a Mask token that will protect it from being destroyed once. Finally, her ultimate puts the top seven cards of your library into your graveyard before returning all of your enchantments back to the battlefield. Estrid knows what she’s about, and if you’re picking up what she’s putting down, you guys are gonna get on like an enchanted house on fire.

3 – Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools

Tevesh Szat is a five-mana Black Planeswalker with a needlessly creepy tongue and what can only be described as a bad vibe. His abilities are just as monstrous as his appearance too. His first ability can create two 0/1 Thrull Creature tokens, perfect if you like sacrificing things for profit. His second ability allows you to sacrifice a Creature or Planesalkwer and draw cards, and you get an extra card if that permanent happened to be someone’s commander. Finally, his ultimate allows you to gain control of all commanders, including the ones in their command zones. That’s both hilarious and stupidly powerful.

That would all be good on its own, but the kicker here is the fact that Tevesh Szat is also a partner, which means you can pair him with a plethora of other partner Commanders to allow for even more potent colour combinations and even crueller decks. Basically, if you’re feeling like you want to watch the world burn, pick up Tevesh Szat.

2 – Daretti, Scrap Savant

Darettie is another Artifact-focussed commander. This one is all about combos, though. For four-mana you get a Red Planeswalker that can draw and discard cards as their first ability. This is crucial, because the second ability lets you sacrifice an Artifact and then return an Artifact from your graveyard to the battlefield. If you set that up right, you can easily end up with a ten-mana card in play on the turn you play him, and that’s kind of unfair, but you’re in control, so who cares.

Finally, Daretti’s ultimate gives you an emblem that basically returns any Artifacts that enter the graveyard back to the battlefield. This makes you incredibly hard to stop. There’s definitely a correct way to play this particular walker, so it’s not one for those who want to experiment lots, but it’s still a blast if you love being well ahead of the mana curve.

1 – Nicol Bolas, the Ravager // Nicol Bolas, the Arisen

Finally, and this definitely isn’t because Nicol Bolas has taken our families hostage in exchange for being at the top of the list, we have the Elder Dragon Nicol Bolas, the Ravager. Nicol Bolas, the Ravager is a four-mana 4/4 Creature in Grixis colors. When he enters the battlefield, all of your opponents have to discard a card, and that’s fun. Also though, you can pay four generic mana plus one Blue, one Black, and one Red mana, to transform him into the Planeswalker Nicol Bolas, the Arisen.

Nicky B, as we all call him, has four abilities. The first ability lets you draw two cards, and the second ability deals ten damage to a Creature or a Planeswalker. Ability the third ability lets you resurrect a Creature or Planeswalker from anyone’s graveyard under your control, which is always good. However, the ultimate here is literally game-ending, because it exiles every card apart from the bottom one from a player’s library. It’s very hard to win a game of Commander when you only have one turn left and very few resources. Anyway, can we have our families back now please Nicky B?