Rankings for All 37 Aetherdrift Commanders

Last updated on September 22, 2025

Captain Howler, Sea Scourge | Illustration by Mirko Failoni

It’s time for a fresh set, new mechanics, and a massive dump of legendary creatures jostling for a spot in our command zone. Aetherdrift has spawned a host of death race-themed commanders, with a particular focus on a cycle of 10 gold legendaries, the captains of the teams competing for The Aetherspark.

But we have way more legends than that! Gods, old friends, and old enemies all reappear. But are any of Aetherdrift’s commanders good? More importantly, are they fun or interesting?

Let’s look beneath the hood and figure it out!

How Many Commanders Are There In Aetherdrift?

Pia and Kiran Nalaar | Illustration by Eric Deschamps

Aetherdrift hit the scene with 37 commanders between reprints, the main set, and the Aetherdrift Commander precons, which is… pretty light, actually. Foundations had a whooping 97 between the main set and Jumpstart, while Duskmourn boasted 51 legends that could command your 99.

Most of DFT’s commanders are new, with a measly four reprints split between the Commander precons, added to this ranking to give you an idea of how the new commanders stack up against the old. I really like this shift towards fewer legends and hope to see it continue through 2025 and beyond.

As for my criteria, I’m looking at these card’s power level, but new legends have an additional hurdle to clear: I judge them against their peers. A good commander isn’t just strong, it’s interesting, novel, or unique.

Commanders printed for an established archetype, like GW +1/+1 counters or Elves, need to stand out from the crowd; on a similar note, a slightly weaker commander that cracks open a whole new archetype, like Obeka, Splitter of Seconds, naturally rises in the rankings for doing something cool.

Honorable Mention: Vanilla Legends

We got a cycle of vanilla legendary creatures this set, which are utterly unplayable as commanders in 2025. Hell, they’d probably be close to unplayable in 2005.

But I love them dearly because I’ve missed vanilla creatures with a block of flavor text to expand on the world. Using them to give some screen time (card time?) to the woefully under-utilized plane of Muraganda was an excellent call; maybe not as good as actually exploring Muraganda through other cards, but it’s better than nothing. Please, WotC, give us more!

#33. Basri, Tomorrow’s Champion

Basri, Tomorrow's Champion isn’t a viable commander; it’s super low impact, and too much of its text cares about cycling it.

#32. Lagorin, Soul of Alacria

Lagorin, Soul of Alacria was clearly designed to be GW signpost uncommon for Aetherdrift Limited, and it does that job so well that you’ll never see it in the command zone or likely in EDH at all unless somebody wants to add some flavor to their Caradora, Heart of Alacria deck.

#31. Pia and Kiran Nalaar

Pia and Kiran Nalaar is far from a bad card, but also pretty far from being a good commander. You need more from your commander than a couple of Thopters and a Shock.

#30. Far Fortune, End Boss

Far Fortune, End Boss has some sick art for such a weak commander. It’s way too slow and asks you to put in too much effort for a lackluster payoff. This is just a solid Limited rare that happens to be legendary; it’s not commander material.

#29. Sita Varma, Masked Racer

Sita Varma, Masked Racer is too slow and clunky; at the end of the day, it’s just a much worse version of Tanazir Quandrix and will see nearly no play as a result.

#28. Aatchik, Emerald Radian

I expect nothing of Aatchik, Emerald Radian because it reads like a worse version of Izoni, Thousand-Eyed, a commander that already sees no play. They have similar enters abilities, but Izoni just uses its tokens so much better. I just can’t see Aatchik being anything more than a great support piece for insect commanders like Grist, the Hunger Tide or Zask, Skittering Swarmlord.

#27. Oviya, Automech Artisan

I guess mono-green commanders no longer have an identity outside of cheating creatures into play? On top of two mono-green cheat commanders in this set, we’ve seen like four over the past year. This space is annoyingly well-worn, and I just can’t get excited for Oviya, Automech Artisan as a result, especially since it’s just Elvish Piper. It’s pretty underpowered considering it needs to live for a turn cycle to do anything or requires additional set-up to give it haste. If you want mono-green cheats, there are better options in this set and in general.

#26. Vnwxt, Verbose Host

Vnwxt, Verbose Host gives you a pretty decent payoff for hitting max speed, but I worry about mono-blue’s ability to achieve it in a timely manner. Cards like Faerie Seer and Mist-Cloaked Herald get the job done, but at that point we’re looking at Edric, Spymaster of Trest without the buffs.

#25. Pia Nalaar, Chief Mechanic

Energy decks have seen a huge resurgence in the past year or so with a slew of new energy commanders. Unfortunately, Pia Nalaar, Chief Mechanic is… not one of the stronger ones. It makes a decent chunk of energy, but the payoff’s underwhelming. This is a support card, not a commander.

#24. Mu Yanling, Wind Rider

Mu Yanling, Wind Rider feels like more of a Cube card to me; a must-kill draw engine that leaves a Vehicle token behind sounds pretty sweet, but I don’t think I want a mono-blue flying commander with Kangee, Sky Warden right there. Though I may be underestimating the value of a Coastal Piracy effect in your opening hand every game, and Mu Yanling, Wind Rider‘s a bit better than that.

#23. Gonti, Night Minister

Gonti, Night Minister has an incredibly disappointing, derivative design. It’s just Gonti, Canny Acquisitor, altered very slightly. This is probably my least favorite commander design in the set, though I want to stress that I don’t think the card is bad in terms of power level; it’s a perfectly respectable mono-black card.

#22. Winter, Cursed Rider

I like Winter, Cursed Rider’s abilities, but they seem awfully low-impact to build around. This card is more likely to support commanders like Sharuum the Hegemon or Urza, Chief Artificer than to forge its own path. Which actually seems rather fitting for Winter’s character, so kudos to the design team.

#21. Hazoret, Godseeker

Hazoret, Godseeker has some Voltron commander potential as a cheap creature with built-in protection and huge stats, though I imagine building the deck would be tricky as you need the early pressure to achieve maximum speed. I don’t think it’s good enough without some Voltron elements; the reward for your aggression being a 5/3 that gets to attack seems underwhelming out of the command zone.

#20. Sai, Master Thopterist

I’m a big fan of Sai, Master Thopterist. Anything that churns out artifacts benefits from a host of powerful synergies, and the deck often has incredible card advantage with its Thopters enabling Skullclamp and Magic’s many Coastal Piracy effects.

#19. Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer

Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer gives us the best ability of Daretti, Scrap Savant attached to a relatively large stick, but I’m not sure we care about it. Is the stick worth a more expensive commander with less utility? And couldn’t we have gotten a more interesting spin on Daretti than one of his planeswalker abilities stapled to an enters ability? It’s still going to do some cool stuff, though.

#18. God-Eternal Oketra

Where many token decks focus on going wide, God-Eternal Oketra goes tall with an army worthy of Nicol Bolas. This deck packs a ton of power thanks to cards like Kor Skyfisher and Whitemane Lion that help you loop your creatures to generate tons of tokens with your commander, which can take to the skies with the new card On Wings of Gold.

#17. Samut, the Driving Force

Samut, the Driving Force is notable as a start your engines! commander that doesn’t require max speed to start doing things. But I’m unimpressed, on several levels.

Why is the Naya commander () affecting noncreature spells? It’s not a color pie break, and perhaps makes it more unique in a shard typically dedicated to creatures, but it waters the card down, making it a generic design without much identity that just does everything. And why doesn’t Samut care about keywords anymore?

#16. Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker

I won’t call Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker weak—you need four landfall triggers to cast a free spell, and mono-green can do that in its sleep with fetch lands and extra land drops. A free Portal to Phyrexia, Rise of the Eldrazi, or Last March of the Ents sounds terrifying. I’d just like to see… anything other than another cheat commander out of mono-green.

#15. Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied

Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied looks fine. Simic decks () have plenty of control over whether the counters are even or odd thanks to proliferate effects, so I imagine the average Sab-Sunen deck will have little trouble drawing cards and attacking on the same turn.

The combination of card advantage and pressure looks promising, and you can threaten a commander damage win with little actual Voltron support since this god starts with so much power. It’s super solid, but I’m not sure how much play it'll actually see; it doesn’t really innovate in the Simic space so much as present another large threat that hits hard and draws cards.

#14. Ketramose, the New Dawn

I really want to look at Ketramose, the New Dawn and get excited for an exile-matters commander, but let’s be real: This is a flicker commander, maybe a control commander that leans on cards like Winds of Abandon and Declaration in Stone. The big winners are cards like Rest in Peace that hate on graveyards by exiling cards that would go there. Regardless of your exact built, Ketramose is an exciting commander from the set.

#13. Temmet, Naktamun’s Will

I was rather dismissive of Temmet, Naktamun's Will when I first saw it, but it’s grown on me. Most zombie commanders focus on accruing card advantage, but this one focuses on beating your opponents down, carving a niche in a fairly saturated market.

And it’s powerful! Your zombies get at least +2/+2 a turn, counting your draw step and Temmet’s attack trigger, but it takes very little effort to make that number much larger thanks to cards like Varina, Lich Queen and Distant Melody.

#12. Kolodin, Triumph Caster

Kolodin, Triumph Caster’s not the strongest commander in the set, but it does pretty much everything you could want a vehicle commander to do. Getting free attacks from cards like Parhelion II and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship throws this deck ahead of the competition and keeping the vehicle in play after makes it more impressive than Greasefang, Okiba .

#11. Caradora, Heart of Alacria

Caradora, Heart of Alacria will make a splash in the Selesnya () counters space, mostly on sheer power. These decks already want a bunch of Hardened Scales effects, and this one’s always in their opening hand! It’s not really innovative as it just puts the archetype’s best effect in the command zone, but it’ll be impactful.

The enters ability really ices the cake; this would be fine without it, but the tutor ensures this has almost zero space for your opponents to interact before it gets at least some value. Some key vehicles to look for are Unidentified Hovership, Smuggler's Copter, and Reckoner Bankbuster.

#10. The Speed Demon

The Speed Demon appropriately looks like one of the better speed commanders. Getting value without waiting several turns to get to max speed takes the edge off the high cost and makes up for how little support the mechanic has for a mono-colored deck. I don’t know how impactful it is; there are some really powerful mono-black commanders worth building around, but I can see playing this to guide a midrangy deck towards first place.

#9. Mimeoplasm, Revered One

Mimeoplasm, Revered One is an interesting take on the OG The Mimeoplasm, trading away a simple clone for a variety of options. It makes a powerful reanimation commander; turning this into Archon of Cruelty, Cityscape Leveler, and other creatures with similarly impactful attack triggers will win games. But I love the concept of a toolbox commander; imagine, if you will, a commander that shifts between Dauthi Voidwalker, Collector Ouphe, and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir as appropriate! This strikes me as a fluid, flexible commander and I can’t wait to see how players utilize it.

#8. Zahur, Glory’s Past

Zahur, Glory's Past looks like one of the more promising start your engines! commanders because it takes very little effort to enable it with sacrifice payoffs like Blood Artist; you don’t even need to risk your creatures in combat! Getting a horde of Zombie tokens to sacrifice or attack your opponents with sounds like a pretty nice deal; it even works as wrath insulation! I don’t think this is better than, say, Teysa Karlov for Orzhov sacrifice decks, but I wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen with Zahur in the command zone.

#7. Redshift, Rocketeer Chief

Gruul () appears to be shifting towards the color pair that cares about activated abilities between Agatha of the Vile Cauldron and Redshift, Rocketeer Chief. Thankfully, these aren’t quite redundant as Agatha only affects creatures, while Redshift’s mana works with noncreature permanents.

The most prominent of these is Sword of the Paruns for a two-card infinite out of the command zone, though Staff of Domination works with a hair of effort. Combos alone don’t make a good commander, but this seems like it has incredible potential, so I’m coming in high on it.

#6. Captain Howler, Sea Scourge

Captain Howler, Sea Scourge looks marvelous for its flexibility. I can see playing this as a Voltron commander relying on wheels to buff it and cards like Temur Battle Rage for double strike. But it could just as easily discard many cards through effects like Faithless Looting and Inti, Seneschal of the Sun to spread some love across a board of evasive threats. You can even politic your way to an alliance by spreading card advantage to your opponents! This is one of the more interesting takes we’ve seen on a discard commander in a while, and I expect to see several different Captain Howler, Sea Scourge EDH decks.

#5. The Scarab God

One of the most fearsome zombie commanders around, The Scarab God takes over games. It plays incredibly well in Commander because its abilities prime you to handle a long game; you continue to pressure your opponents even through a stalled board state while you put all that time and mana to good use with the activated ability, swelling your ranks until your opponents collapse before your lazotep army.

#4. Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist

Hashaton, Scarab's Fist looks like a promising Esper () reanimator commander. It stands out largely because the ability that makes a token copy of your discarded creature doesn’t exile it or anything, as we often see. That means the original creature stays in the graveyard, awaiting a reanimation spell of its own. That gives you twice the value from each reanimation target and plays well into wraths as you force your opponents to answer the token copies before bringing the original into play.

#3. Saheeli, Radiant Creator

Saheeli, Radiant Creator is a much more interesting energy commander than Pia. You get a decent source of energy and a very exciting payoff. Titans and Overlords leap to mind as excellent targets, but I wonder what kind of trouble you can get into once you start making token copies of Doubling Season.

#2. Mendicant Core, Guidelight

Perhaps the DFT commander I’m most excited to build, Mendicant Core, Guidelight wants to direct an aggressive artifact deck, likely one leaning on Thopter tokens to get to max speed with all little effort as possible.

Once you’re there, you can shift gears towards a grindier game plan, sourcing plenty of card advantage from cards like Idol of Oblivion and Research Thief while building towards powerful late-game plays like Cybermen Squadron and Portal to Phyrexia, getting twice the value all the while.

#1. Loot, the Pathfinder

I’d be interested in Ancestral Recall on a stick and Loot, the Pathfinder takes it much further. Don’t be concerned by exaust’s “only once” limitation; flickering Loot resets it. Since it has haste, that’s going to create some mind-numbingly powerful turns, and I’m almost certain that this goes infinite with Displacer Kitten somehow. Honestly, my only quibble with this card is a general dislike of Loot as a character; WotC could at least give him a mechanical identity other than “generic goodstuff.”

Victory Lap

Mendicant Core, Guidelight | Illustration by Zezhou Chen

Aetherdrift has some exceptional commanders and a couple duds, but not every card can be a banger when you have so many commanders. Personally, I’m curious to see how start your engines! impacts Commander and what those precon commanders do!

Which DFT commander do you want to build around? Do you have any sick tech for Mendicant Core, Guidelight? For my friend, of course. Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!