Commander is easily the most diverse and creative format in Magic: The Gathering. Offering unmatched deckbuilding freedom and brackets to support multiple power levels, practically anything is possible in Commander. Despite this unparalleled freedom, most Commander decks, themes, and archetypes can benefit from including a few pieces of equipment.
Most of the best equipment in Magic: The Gathering, especially for Commander, can provide tons of utility. Many of these cards are also colorless, allowing them to be included within any Commander deck. If you’re looking to give your deck a boost, no matter what you’re playing, these cards should be on your radar.
Here are the best equipment MTG cards in Commander.
Conqueror’s Flail
Unlike many of the cards on this list, Conqueror’s Flail doesn’t appear at the very top of EDHREC’s most popular equipment list. That doesn’t mean this card isn’t powerful, however, as it can put in serious work, especially in cEDH. This is thanks to the card’s Stax-esque effect, which stops opponents from messing with you during your turns.
While cards like Grand Abolisher and Voice of Victory offer similar effects, both of these cards are in white. Conqueror’s Flail, on the other hand, can be included within any Commander deck, so long as you’ve got a creature to equip it to. Thankfully, the low-ish two equip cost makes working around removal fairly viable too.
Shadowspear
As time goes on, including Shadowspear in Commander decks becomes more and more essential. Thanks to power creep, we’re seeing more and more game-ending threats with built-in protection nowadays. While this often comes in the way of Ward, Hexproof and Indestructible are still incredibly common abilities.
Being able to turn off these abilities, even if only for a turn, is a massive boon in Commander. At best, this will open your opponent’s threats to removal, but just having Shadowspear in play can make blocking tricky. As if that wasn’t enough already, Shadowspear granting Trample and Lifelink can do a lot of work on their own.
Mithril Coat
According to EDHREC, Mithril Coat is the fifth most popular equipment in Commander, and it’s easy to see why. For three mana you get to give your Commander Indestructible at instant speed. While that’s technically all Mithril Coat does, it’s hard to understate just how good this ability is.
Unlike many MTG equipment cards in Commander, which focus on giving the best buff possible, Mithril Coat is basically a counterspell. If your Commander is about to be removed, you can quickly Flash in Mithril Coat to keep it safe. In a pinch, you can even more Mithril Coat around to protect other creatures, or at worst, reequip it later for the same cost.
It’s easy to forget that Mithril Coat itself is also Indestructible, which allows the equipment to dodge a lot of common artifact removal in the format. This is a lot more difficult to deal with than your average Indestructible effect.
Sword of Feast and Famine
While they’re not all as strong as each other, the entire Sword of X and Y cycle deserves a mention in this list. Even the new-ish Sword of Wealth and Power can put in a lot of work in the right deck. That phrase can be said for each of the swords, since their unique abilities perform best in decks that can maximize them.
Sword of Truth and Justice, for instance, is best within +1/+1 counter-focused and Superfriends decks in Commander. Sword of Feast and Famine, meanwhile, is the most generally useful of the bunch, thanks to its green-coded ability. By allowing you to untap all the lands you control, Sword of Feast and Famine can facilitate both ramp and future countermagic.
Commander’s Plate
Given the name Commander’s Plate, it should be no surprise that this card is good in Commander. Specifically, Commander’s Plate can offer incredible protection, depending on what colors you’re playing. Sadly, this does mean that the strength of this card varies somewhat, but the ceiling is absolutely massive.
In a mono-green deck, Commander’s Plate is easily one of the best equipment MTG cards in Commander. In three or four-color decks, however, this card’s effectiveness is somewhat tame. Thankfully, most two-color decks can get away with running this card, especially if you’re not in blue or black.
Like all the cards on this list, Commander’s Plate sees play within a wide range of Commander decks currently. Most of the time, however, they’re found alongside colorless Commanders like Zhulodok, Void Gorger. In Zhulodok decks, Commander’s Plate gives protection against all colors, which is insane for a one-mana equipment.
Sunforger
Unlike all the other equipment cards on this list, Sunforger is the only one with a restriction in Commander. Thanks to its RW ability, you can only play Sunforger in Commander decks that have at least a Boros color identity. Despite this rather substantial drawback, Sunforger is still one of the best equipment cards in all of MTG.
While it technically costs five mana all in, Sunforger is a repeatable tutor that casts what you find for free. Sure, you can only find red or white instants that cost four or less, but you can find protection, burn, or just about anything you need, really. If you’ve got a Commander like Captain America, First Avenger, who can get around the equip cost, then things really get out of hand.
Even the downside of Sunforger’s color identity is barely a downside in most Commander decks. The vast majority of equipment-focused Commander decks are already at least Boros, so Sunforger is an easy auto-include.
Sword of the Animist
It may be simple, but Sword of the Animist is easily one of the best equipment cards in MTG Commander. The buff may be negligible, and the costs mediocre, but this card’s ability is invaluable in a great many decks. Essentially, Sword of the Animist is one of the most consistent ramp engines in MTG.
Unlike the Swords of X and Y from earlier, Sword of the Animist doesn’t have to deal damage. Instead, just swinging with this card equipped will net you a land from your deck onto the battlefield. This is basically a free Rampant Growth every single turn, which is nuts if you get just a few swings in.
Skullclamp
Even outside of Commander, Skullclamp is one of the all-time best equipment cards in all of MTG. That said, if you’ve not been playing MTG for a while, this card might seem pretty meh on the surface. A +1/-1 buff is hardly game-breaking after all, even if drawing two cards upon death is a nice upside.
Thankfully, it’s beyond easy to break Skullclamp by attaching it to a 1/1 creature or token. When doing this, Skullclamp essentially becomes repeatable one mana draw two, which is insane in any format. With this in mind, it’s no wonder that Skullclamp has been banned in both Modern and Legacy.
Helm of the Host
Helm of the Host may be the most expensive card on this list, but it has some serious strength to back it up. Each combat, this equipment will create a token copy of whatever it’s equipped to. On its own, this ability could create a ton of value, but Helm of the Host notably creates non-legendary tokens.
Thanks to this stipulation, copying your Commander with Helm of the Host is fair game. Considering that your Commander is often the strongest part of your deck, this ability is obviously pretty nuts. Even outside of Commander copying shenanigans, many of the biggest and best threats in MTG, like Atraxa, Grand Unifier, are legendary.
Given its potential to steamroll games if left unattended, Helm of the Host is easily one of the best equipment cards in Commander. Whether you’re building your deck to win or just to have fun, this card should definitely be on your radar.
Swiftfoot Boots
The last two cards on this list are nearly identical to one another, outside of a few key differences. Technically, Swiftfoot Boots is the more popular of the pair, as the most prolific equipment in Commander, according to EDHREC. Offering Haste and Hexproof, Swiftfoot Boots is one of the cheapest ways to protect your Commander and get them swinging.
Thanks to its low equip cost, Swiftfoot Boots easily allows you to get any threat moving, or keep it protected. This effect is simple, but it really does work in Commander, especially since so much removal is flying around.
Lightning Greaves
Technically, Lightning Greaves isn’t always better than Swiftfoot Boots, since Shroud is a little too good. Unlike Hexproof, this ability stops even you from targeting the creature that Lightning Greaves is attached to. Thankfully, the 0 equip cost provides an easy way around this, provided you have another creature to move the boots to.
On their own, Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boost are basically interchangeable with one another. When combined with Forge Anew or Leonin Shikari, however, Lightning Greaves has the edge. If you can move equipment around at instant speed, Lightning Greaves can become an insane free counterspell.
Even if you don’t have access to this synergy all the time, Lightning Greaves is still an incredible card. There’s no doubt that this card is one of, if not the, best equipment cards in MTG for Commander.