The Ally creature type is known for working extremely well with one another, making them fun to play in Commander. Many of them feature powerful enters abilities that only get better the more Allies you add to the board. Despite not being the most abundant creature type out there, there’s still a wealth of potent options to craft around.
With Avatar: The Last Airbender spoiler season kicking off tomorrow, Allies are sure to garner a lot more attention moving forward. So, as we continue to get hyped about all that this set has to offer, now’s the perfect time to look at all the strongest options throughout Magic’s history that the creature type has given us.
Honorable Mention 1 | Katara, the Fearless
Before getting into the list of best Allies, we need to discuss the upcoming Avatar set in all its glory. Scheduled to release November 21st of this year, MTG Avatar will inevitably introduce a multitude of new Allies to the MTG universe.
Katara, the Fearless, for example, has a ton going for it. Many Allies reward you with some kind of trigger whenever they or another Ally enters, and what better way to take advantage of these effects than by doubling them! It may be early, but this card looks poised to make the cut in nearly every Ally typal deck that can cast it.
That being said, this is purely speculative since none of these cards are playable yet. For this reason, we won’t be adding any Avatar cards to our best Allies list until the set has been spoiled in its entirety.
Honorable Mention 2 | Individual Powerhouses
Additionally, our list is designed to specifically showcase Allies that reward you for building heavily around the creature type. Unfortunately, some Allies don’t fit the typal theme despite being extremely powerful individually. Because of this, we wanted to take the time to highlight some powerhouses that would otherwise be omitted.
Akiri, Line Slinger fits the mold perfectly. Despite being an Ally, Akiri incentivizes you to fill your deck with tons of cheap artifacts instead of other Allies. At the same time, Akiri abuses the broken Partner mechanic, which enables you to utilize two different Commanders while simultaneously opening the door to run more colors for maximum flexibility. Akiri’s efficiency, combined with its ability to grow out of control, helped keep it on the Duel Commander banlist until earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Zulaport Cutthroat has long been an elite inclusion in Aristocrats shells. Decks with a sacrifice theme and lots of token production, like Chatterfang, Squirrel General Commander decks, make great use of this two-drop. There are even Allies like Reckless Bushwhacker that shine brightest in Constructed aggro decks rather than Commander, but are still worthy of recognition.
#5 | Hagra Diabolist
Hagra Diabolist may not be super cheap, but it makes up for it with incredible upside. As you continue building out your board, every single Ally you land becomes a major threat with Diabolist in play. You don’t even have to worry about entering combat to close games, since the life loss will add up fast.
Simply resolving token producers like United Front can potentially eliminate one or multiple of your opponents at once. Meanwhile, mass blink effects like Eerie Interlude threaten to win you the game on the spot as Diabolist and all of your other Allies reenter at the same time. It’s hard to go wrong with this card in the mix.
#4 | Tuktuk Scrapper
What sets Tuktuk Scrapper apart from a lot of other Ally typal payoffs is that you don’t need to have a big board for it to pull its weight. This creature’s enters ability isn’t restrictive in any way, and while it threatens to deal more damage the more Allies you have in play, the artifact destruction portion alone is great in a format dominated by Sol Ring and other mana rocks.
Of course, if your opponents don’t have removal for this card, it threatens to keep mowing down any artifacts that hit the board over time just like Aura Shards. Against any equipment strategies, this is going to be one of the best cards you can find. The only downside is that you do need artifact targets in play to deal damage in the first place, but that doesn’t stop Tuktuk from being an Ally typal staple.
#3 | Harabaz Druid
Harabaz Druid is the type of card that’s good early and only gets better as the game progresses. Even with no other synergies, this card enables you to cast your spells ahead of schedule, all while fixing your mana. Many Ally typal shells utilize a variety of colors to get access to a deeper card pool, making the inclusion of this card a must.
As you build out your board, Harabaz Druid begins to take over. Whether you’re funneling the excess mana into General Tazri or Mirror Entity, there’s no shortage of ways to close games. The options for mana dorks that are also Allies is extremely slim, too, which only makes this card more valuable to your deck.
#2 | Sea Gate Loremaster
As far as cards that fit in the 99 of an Ally Commander deck, there’s no better payoff than Sea Gate Loremaster. It doesn’t take much before this card is drawing you an entire fresh hand of cards. Even before you’ve developed your board, the card advantage this card generates further fuels itself by digging for more Allies to play.
While this card’s ceiling is obviously super high, this is one of the few Allies out there that’s capable of pulling you far ahead even with just a couple Allies on board. With this in mind, it’s one of your best refueling mechanisms in the event you get hit by a board wipe, which typal decks are naturally weak to.
#1 | General Tazri
As things currently stand, there’s no legend you’d rather have in the Command Zone than General Tazri. Their enters ability gives you access to your entire toolbelt, including situational interactive elements like Masked Vandal. Later on, it breaks board stalls wide open, which is a big deal considering how puny most Allies are.
As a five color Commander, you get to run any other Allies your heart desires. This puts General Tazri in a completely separate class from the likes of Munda, Ambush Leader. Of course, Avatar could bring forth another elite multicolor legendary Ally to build around, but for now, we’ll just have to wait and see what sweet spoilers come our way.
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