Every year, it seems Commander grows more and more popular. The format is extremely appealing to a wide audience. Getting to play unique, multiplayer games is incredibly fun. Arguably one of the most fascinating aspects of Commander is the deckbuilding process. Being able to craft a deck to match the theme of a specific legend is brilliant. With so many options to choose from, though, it can be tough to narrow down what creatures make the best Commanders.
Luckily, we’re here to help. Recently, we went over the best Izzet Commanders in the game. For fans of slinging spells and drawing cards, the Izzet guild is a perfect fit. Now, we’re going to transition to the top Dimir Commanders available. This color combination offers a wide variety of cool mechanics and creature types to build around. Without further ado, here are the MTG best Dimir Commanders.
#5 | Alela, Cunning Conqueror
- Mana Value: 2UB
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 2/4
- MTG Set: Wilds of Eldraine Commander
- Card Text: Flying. Whenever you cast your first spell during each opponent’s turn, create a 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature token with flying. Whenever one or more Faeries you control deal combat damage to a player, goad target creature that player controls.
Coming in at number five, we have Alela, Cunning Conqueror. Alela, Cunning Conqueror is an excellent Commander choice for a Faerie deck. Faeries decks in general are very good at playing their cards at instant speed. This doesn’t just mean that the decks are typically filled with tons of instants (though cheap instants work perfectly alongside Alela), but also that many of the best supporting Faeries naturally have Flash themselves.
As such, it’s easy to trigger Alela at least once each turn cycle. Of course, in a multiplayer game, you’re incentivized to cast efficient spells on each of your opponent’s turns to keep generating more Faerie tokens with Alela.
Alela simply meshes with the tempo gameplan so well. You even get the bonus of forcing big opposing creatures to attack elsewhere when you can connect in combat. Many other Faerie cards, such as Spellstutter Sprite and Obyra, Dreaming Duelist, become even stronger as Alela starts generating a Faerie army. Alela isn’t the flashiest Commander out there, but it’s simply so easy to enable. Just cast spells on your opponent’s turns and reap the rewards.
Read More: MTG Best Simic Commanders
#4 | Satoru Umezawa
- Mana Value: 1UB
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 2/4
- MTG Set: Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
- Card Text: Whenever you activate a ninjutsu ability, look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. This ability triggers only once each turn. Each creature card in your hand has ninjutsu 2UB.
Up next, we have Satoru Umezawa. Satoru Umezawa is a neat Commander that rewards you for checking a few different boxes. The first is playing cheap, elusive creatures. Creatures like Changeling Outcast that can reliably connect in combat are hugely important in helping you maximize the Ninjutsu mechanic.
Obviously, Satoru Umezawa provides card advantage whenever you activate a Ninjutsu ability. As such, you can always go all-out with the Ninja theme. The most intriguing ability that Satoru Umezawa provides, though, is the fact that all you creature cards in hand have Ninjutsu 2UB. This means that if you can attack an opponent without getting blocked, you can freely put into play something absolutely enormous.
Blightsteel Colossus is the ultimate haymaker to cheat into play, since the opponent you attacked in the first place will die on the spot! Other cool creatures to Ninjutsu in include Ancient Silver Dragon and Wrexial, the Risen Deep, which both have potentially devastating triggered abilities when they deal combat damage. Once you get your engine rolling, the world is truly your oyster.
Read More: The Best Token Generators In MTG
#3 | Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
- Mana Value: 2UB
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 3/3
- MTG Set: Midnight Hunt Commander
- Card Text: Whenever another Zombie you control dies, if it didn’t have decayed, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token with decayed. At the beginning of your end step, you may sacrifice a Zombie. If you do, draw a card.
At number three, we have Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver. Wilhelt is very clearly at its best in a dedicated Zombies shell. Fortunately, Zombies is a very well supported typal strategy in Commander. There are tons of “lords,” sacrifice synergies, and other ways to maximize the power of the decayed Zombies Wilhelt creates.
Wilhelt’s ability to flood the board with tokens makes it a great card to pair with sacrifice outlets like Ashnod’s Altar, as well as cards like Diregraf Captain that punish your opponents whenever a creature you control dies. You’ll never have a shortage of Zombie creatures to sacrifice to Wilhelt’s final ability, either.
Ultimately, while there are a lot of different typal payoffs to pick from in Dimir, what gives Wilhelt a big edge is how strong Zombies are naturally. Elite payoffs like Rooftop Storm go a long way in helping Zombie decks succeed, and Wilhelt is a great Zombie Commander.
Read More: The Best MTG Standard Decks – August 2024
#2 | The Scarab God
- Mana Value: 3UB
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 5/5
- MTG Sets: Hour of Devastation, Double Masters, Commander Masters
- Card Text: At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent loses X life and you scry X, where X is the number of Zombies you control. 2UB: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Create a 4/4 token that’s a copy of it, except it’s a 4/4 black Zombie. When The Scarab God dies, return it to its owner’s hand at the beginning of the next end step.
As good as Wilhelt is, though, it’s hard to compete with the incredible power of The Scarab God. Even with no other Zombie synergies present, The Scarab God serves as a fantastic Reanimator-style card. Pair The Scarab God with ways to get big haymakers into your graveyard, such as Entomb, and you’re in business.
With The Scarab God’s life-draining ability factored in, though, you are heavily incentivized to play a lot of Zombies. Cards like Army of the Damned that put a boatload of Zombies into play at once can end the game quickly with The Scarab God out. You even get the benefit of being able to set up your draw step. This God definitely lives up to its status, hence why it’s so high on the list.
Read More: Best MTG Arena Timeless Decks – August 2024
#1 | Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow
- Mana Value: 1UB
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 1/3
- MTG Sets: Commander 2018, Commander Legends, Commander Masters
- Card Text: Commander ninjutsu UB (UB, Return an unblocked attacker you control to hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand or the command zone tapped and attacking.) Whenever a Ninja you control deals combat damage to a player, reveal the top card of your library and put that card into your hand. Each opponent loses life equal to that card’s mana value.
Yet, as good as The Scarab God is, no Dimir Commander really rivals Yuriko from a competitive standpoint. Yuriko is incredibly efficient. Thanks to its Commander ninjutsu ability, the typical negative effects of the Commander tax aren’t as impactful. This helps give Yuriko a fighting chance even in cEDH.
Much like Satoru Umezawa, you really want a high density of low-cost creatures that can easily connect in combat at your disposal. Even something as individually unimpactful as Ornithopter can play an important role in enabling your Ninjutsu shenanigans.
Once in play, Yuriko makes all of your Ninjas very threatening. In multiplayer, it’s quite likely you’ll have an opponent to attack who doesn’t have a formidable defense set up.
Yuriko is another example of an incredible Commander with awesome typal synergies. There are plenty of other Commanders in a similar vein that just barely missed the cut, too. Want to play with Horrors? Build a Captain N’ghathrod deck. Are you more into Wraiths? Lord of the Nazgul has you covered. Dimir really presents a world of possibilities. Nonetheless, we do believe these legends give you the most bang for your buck, and Yuriko has yet to be dethroned as the best MTG Dimir Commander.
Read More: MTG Best Historic Decks – August 2024
