The Best MTG Blink Commanders

Blink is one of the most easily-underestimated strategies in MTG, particularly in the Commander format. While it’s often seen as a beginner archetype due to its simplicity, it has power well beyond that, and is capable of putting up results even at the lofty heights of cEDH. If you want to explore this archetype for yourself, and see how far the simple act of re-using your creatures can go, then these are our picks for the best Blink Commanders in MTG.

Honorable Mention | Dack Fayden, Helping Hand

Dack Fayden, Helping Hand might be a very new face on the Blink scene, but it’s shaping up to be one of the best legends the archetype has access to. On entry, it pulls three creatures from your deck guaranteed, before donating them to an opponent each and Goading them to boot. This gives the impression that Dack is some kind of political strategy, but it actually works even better as full-on Blink.

Since you still get the enters triggers from the creatures you cheat out with Dack, you can get full value out of classics like Loran of the Third Path Loran of the Third Path Vigilance
When Loran enters, destroy up to one target artifact or enchantment.
{T}: You and target opponent each draw a card. and Sun Titan Sun Titan Vigilance
Whenever this creature enters or attacks, you may return target permanent card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. before giving them away. With blink-on-entry creatures that can hit opposing permanents, like Bronzebeak Foragers Bronzebeak Foragers When this creature enters, for each opponent, exile up to one target nonland permanent that player controls until this creature leaves the battlefield.
{X}{W}: Put target card with mana value X exiled with this creature into its owner's graveyard. You gain X life. , you can even reset your other free creatures to keep them permanently, while getting even more enters value from them.

You can also use Blink staples like Charming Prince Charming Prince When this creature enters, choose one —
• Scry 2.
• You gain 3 life.
• Exile another target creature you own. Return it to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of the next end step. to effectively steal back any creatures you do give away, so blink has a ton of utility here. Heck, you can even blink Dack itself for repeated bursts of value, chaining blink creatures to dig deeper and deeper into your deck for massive value. Blinking Dacks like this is actually the core of a funky new cEDH combo deck, which is doing surprisingly well given how new it is.

While Dack Fayden, Helping Hand certainly seems strong, it’s only an honorable mention here because it hasn’t had a lot of time to really prove itself yet. In the long run its high mana cost, and Mono-White color identity, could prove to be obstacles it just can’t overcome. For now, however, it’s one of the most exciting new developments for Blink decks in MTG Commander.

4 | Niko, Light of Hope

Niko, Light of Hope puts a unique spin on Blink, blending the archetype’s typical value-driven approach with the potential for go-wide shenanigans. By itself it’s a great blink target, unlocking a ton of potential card advantage with the Shards it generates, which are essentially better Clues. Since these Shards are enchantments, however, they also unlock synergies with cards like Entity Tracker Entity Tracker Flash
Eerie — Whenever an enchantment you control enters and whenever you fully unlock a Room, draw a card. and Archon of Sun’s Grace Archon of Sun’s Grace Flying
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
Pegasus creatures you control have lifelink.
Constellation — Whenever an enchantment you control enters, create a 2/2 white Pegasus creature token with flying. , which Clues can’t typically do.

The big draw here, of course, is blinking other creatures with Niko and creating an army of them out of your built-up Shards. This shifts the typical Blink focus on strong enters abilities to attack triggers and raw stats instead, since you’ll be able to leverage both with transformed Shards. Turning all your Shards into Hero of Bladehold Hero of Bladehold Battle cry (Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.)
Whenever this creature attacks, create two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens that are tapped and attacking. can result in a deadly swing via attack triggers, for instance, or you can make them all Blightsteel Colossus Blightsteel Colossus Trample, infect, indestructible
If Blightsteel Colossus would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Blightsteel Colossus and shuffle it into its owner's library instead. instead for a similar result.

Though Niko’s unique abilities do pull in multiple directions, the result is one of the more unique Blink Commanders the game has seen. You can opt for the typical value-based approach here with creatures like Mulldrifter Mulldrifter Flying
When this creature enters, draw two cards.
Evoke {2}{U} (You may cast this spell for its evoke cost. If you do, it's sacrificed when it enters.) , but blinking Niko for extra Shards will also let you pivot to an explosive Aggro playstyle on a whim. If you’re on the fence about trying Blink due to its often-linear play patterns, Niko is a fantastic introduction to the archetype.

3 | Abdel Adrian, Gorion’s Word/Candlekeep Sage

Abdel Adrian is almost comically well-suited to being a Blink Commander, offering both an enabler and a payoff right out of the command zone. Getting to blink any number of nonland permanents on entry is absolutely massive, letting you re-use all your creatures, artifacts like Ichor Wellspring Ichor Wellspring When this artifact enters or is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, draw a card. , and enchantments like Roll-Roll-Roll-Roll Roll-Roll-Roll-Roll (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after IV.)
I, II, III, IV — Exile up to one target creature or land you control. If you do, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step. .

Though you don’t get your permanents back right away, you do get a nice batch of 1/1 tokens to hold the fort in the meantime, which gives the deck serious board presence. In a Blink shell, you can easily blink Abdel Adrian itself to have them all enter again, before repeating this process for a huge burst of value and tokens. With blink engines like Teleportation Circle Teleportation Circle At the beginning of your end step, exile up to one target artifact or creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control. , and token doublers like Anointed Procession Anointed Procession If an effect would create one or more tokens under your control, it creates twice that many of those tokens instead. , this deck can easily dominate a game on triggers alone.

Abdel Adrian also has a ton of combo potential, going infinite with all manner of cards in all manner of ways. With Deadeye Navigator Deadeye Navigator Soulbond (You may pair this creature with another unpaired creature when either enters. They remain paired for as long as you control both of them.)
As long as Deadeye Navigator is paired with another creature, each of those creatures has "{1}{U}: Exile this creature, then return it to the battlefield under your control." and some mana rocks, you can get infinite tokens, blink triggers, and even infinite mana. The card also easily goes infinite with any two other blink-on-entry creatures, as they can all blink each other back and forth for some convoluted combo wins.

On top of all this innate potential, Abdel Adrian also lets you Choose a Background, which opens up a ton of different avenues for deckbuilding. For a Blink deck, Candlekeep Sage Candlekeep Sage Commander creatures you own have "When this creature enters or leaves the battlefield, draw a card." is easily the best option, giving you access to easy card draw with Abdel Adrian, as well as blue for a lot of great Blink synergy pieces. That said, Far Traveler Far Traveler Commander creatures you own have "At the beginning of your end step, exile up to one target tapped creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control." is also a very viable pick as well, if you don’t mind locking yourself into Mono-White.

2 | Brago, King Eternal

While it’s a little slow to get going, Brago, King Eternal is one of the best Blink Commanders in MTG once it does. Landing a hit with it lets you blink anything you want from your board, Brago itself included, which can result in some truly wild swings. Paired with cards like Genji Glove Genji Glove Equipped creature has double strike.
Whenever equipped creature attacks, if it's the first combat phase of the turn, untap it. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
Equip {3} , you can stretch this ability into multiple rounds of blinking per turn. This can be hard to come back from with cards like Cloudblazer Cloudblazer Flying
When this creature enters, you gain 2 life and draw two cards. and Agent of Treachery Agent of Treachery When this creature enters, gain control of target permanent.
At the beginning of your end step, if you control three or more permanents you don't own, draw three cards. in the mix.

Brago is also a notable combo enabler, with a wide array of infinites in its arsenal. With Strionic Resonator Strionic Resonator {2}, {T}: Copy target triggered ability you control. You may choose new targets for the copy. (A triggered ability uses the words "when," "whenever," or "at.") and some mana rocks, for example, you can blink your whole board infinite times after just one Brago trigger. It also opens up plenty of infinite turn lines by blinking spell recursion creatures like Archaeomancer Archaeomancer When this creature enters, return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand. to cast the likes of Time Warp Time Warp Target player takes an extra turn after this one. over and over.

Though it needs more protection and support than many of its peers, with Lightning Greaves Lightning Greaves Equipped creature has haste and shroud. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
Equip {0} and Swiftfoot Boots Swiftfoot Boots Equipped creature has hexproof and haste. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control. It can attack and {T} no matter when it came under your control.)
Equip {1} ({1}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.) being near-mandatory to avoid immediate removal, Brago is still a phenomenal Blink Commander. If your opponents let it survive a turn cycle, chances are they won’t be doing the same.

1 | Aang, at the Crossroads

Where most MTG Blink Commanders focus on extracting value from your other creatures, Aang, at the Crossroads flips this idea on its head. By itself, Aang is a phenomenal blink target in the command zone, giving you a near-guaranteed creature every time it enters assuming you build your deck right. This makes it fantastic alongside creatures like Felidar Guardian Felidar Guardian When this creature enters, you may exile another target permanent you control, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control. that can blink it on entry, setting up a potential chain of value that can extend deep into your turn.

This also works with Clone Clone You may have this creature enter as a copy of any creature on the battlefield. creatures as well, particularly those that dodge the legend rule like Spark Double Spark Double You may have this creature enter as a copy of a creature or planeswalker you control, except it enters with an additional +1/+1 counter on it if it's a creature, it enters with an additional loyalty counter on it if it's a planeswalker, and it isn't legendary. . With the right density of creatures like this, you can go through most of your deck with Aang this way from a single cast, essentially letting you tutor any creatures you’d like into play. This strategy sounds unreliable, but it’s actually anything but, and has actually earned Aang a spot in the cutthroat cEDH metagame on account of its consistency.

With its great color identity, reasonable mana cost, and stellar ability, Aang is one of the best Blink Commanders in MTG hands-down. While it can be a bit of a glass cannon at times, this is one of the more interesting, and powerful, Commanders the archetype has seen in years.

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