The 13 Best Eldrazi Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on July 18, 2025

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn | Illustration b Mark Tedin

Like any fantasy universe, Magic has its fair share of big baddies across the Multiverse. Phyrexians. Slivers. Birds. But none are as horrifying (or as wiggly) as the Lovecraftian eldrazi creatures. They’re a fan favorite race of tentacle monsters from the fan favorite world of Zendikar, and they’re known as one of the more bombastic creature types.

Today we visit a world devoid of color and explore the eldrazi commanders. Proceed with caution: this one’s not for the squeamish.

What Are Eldrazi Commanders in MTG?

Emrakul, the World Anew | Illustration by Brent Hollowell

Eldrazi commanders are legendary creatures with the eldrazi creature type. The eldrazi were introduced to Magic in Rise of the Eldrazi MTG set and have since returned mainly in the Battle for Zendikar block, in Modern Horizons 3, in the Commander precons, Eldrazi Unbound and Eldrazi Incursion.

Eldrazi are massive entities and usually colorless creatures. With a few exceptions, eldrazi are 7/7 creatures or bigger and usually cost 7 or more mana to cast. With MH3, you get many smaller eldrazi options, as well as colored ones. Although technically they count as eldrazi, I do not consider changelings here, so sorry Morophon, the Boundless.

Honorable Mentions

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Emeria. Keening Mother. Best annihilator card. Flying Spaghetti Monster. The Moon. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn goes by many names. “Best Commander of All Time” is not one of those titles, because although this is Magic's best battlecruiser, this version of Emrakul has been banished from Commander since 2010. That’s probably for the best since this card can do nothing but wreak havoc on the format. Annihilator 6 is a lot of annihilating. I’d put this at #1 in an eldritch heartbeat, but the banlist dictates I leave it off the actual list.

Besides, Emrakul can barely hold its own against 15 squirrels.

Hanweir, the Writhing Township

Oh, there goes Mr. Johnson and the local laundry mat. Oh… Oh dear.

I adore Hanweir, the Writhing Township. It used to be my laptop background. Unfortunately, the children in the foreground of this stunning art are covered up by the textbox. A textbox you can’t even put in the command zone. Despite being a legendary eldrazi creature, Hanweir isn’t a standalone card. It’s the melded pair of Hanweir Garrison and Hanweir Battlements, neither of which can be your commander. I’m sure someone has Rule 0’d these cards as their commanders somehow, which would be cool to see.

#13. Brisela, Voice of Nightmares

Unlike Hanweir, the Writhing Township, Brisela, Voice of Nightmares can be jigsawed into your command zone. Half of it at least. It’s a bit Cheatyface to include Brisela here, but if either Gisela, the Broken Blade or Bruna, the Fading Light is your commander, a melded Brisela counts as your commander too. I recommend Bruna at the helm with Gisela in the 99 since Bruna’s can pull the other angel out of the graveyard.

Brisela isn’t as potent of a lock-piece as you’d expect though. It shuts off some natural foils like Swords to Plowshares and Chaos Warp, but it gets swept up in most wraths and dies to a stray Ravenous Chupacabra or any plethora of ETB removal. It lends itself to a completely unique mono-white eldrazi deck, which lets you play the normal heavy hitters plus white all-stars and game changers like Smothering Tithe and Teferi's Protection. It’s also a perfect home for Eldrazi Displacer, a personal favorite.

#12. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

It’s pretty telling how powerful the rest of the entries are when you see Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre in the bottom half. It pops a permanent on the way in, reduces your opponents’ boards to rubble on attacks, and protects itself with indestructible. The name might suggest otherwise, but your opponents have a very finite amount of time left when Ulamog joins the fray.

#11. Ulamog, the Defiler

How big would you like your creature to be? Like, 10/10? 15/15? Ulamog, the Defiler can be that big, and its annihilator ability grows, too. Plus, when it ETBs, you get to exile the top half of someone’s library!

This creature is potent and powerful, no doubt, but I’d rather play it in my 99 than have it be my Eldrazi commander simply because I value the build-around aspect more. It has an interesting built-in protection with its ward cost (sacrifice two permanents), but people can simply wrath or sac two useless lands/tokens. Also, exiling half a player’s library is very strong since the cards never touch the graveyard, but at the same time there are diminishing returns in doing that each time you recast Ulamog, and are you really building in a milling alternate win con?

#10. Kozilek, the Broken Reality

Like Kozilek's first, Kozilek, the Broken Reality can draw you up to four cards, as well as manifest some creatures. The big thing that sets this commander apart is that you have the +3/+2 bonus to your colorless creatures right out of the command zone, so there’s some incentive to build a colorless creature deck.You can even fill the deck with artifacts to get the bonus, but you’ll probably stick with eldrazi due to the bonus synergies.

The downside of this eldrazi commander is that, unlike its older version, it has no way to defend itself, and there are plenty of colored eldrazi that would be a great fit here but you can’t play due to the color identity.

#9. Zhulodok, Void Gorger

Zhulodok, Void Gorger was the first peek at the Commander Masters Eldrazi Unbound precon. I was glad eldrazi got some love, but I have not been impressed with this what looks like a big mana commander. Not that it’s bad, just that the rest of the titans are incredible in comparison.

As 6-mana 7/4 with no evasion or protection but with a potentially scary ability, your opponents will often kill on sight and not have a hard time doing so. It also feels a little “win-more.” Turning your subsequent eldrazi and Ugins into mini Garruk, Apex Predators is cool, but by triggering this you’re already casting amazing spells. How much more do you need? Zhulodok is also a mana short of being protected by Not of This World, though that spell does trigger the double cascade effect.

#8. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

I used to get grounded for lying, yet here’s ol’ Kozilek butchering literal truth itself with no repercussions. Unfair, I say. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth is the other annihilator 4 twin, but this one restocks your hand on a cast trigger. The original trio of Eldrazi titans all had an “anti-reanimator” clause that shuffles your graveyard away, but this can actually be used as an edge against dedicated mill decks and graveyard hate. Both iterations of Kozilek notably lack indestructible but make up for it with titanic stats.

#7. Kozilek, the Great Distortion

I used to get grounded for distorting reality, yet here’s ol’ Kozilek…. Hmm, I guess the joke doesn’t work as well here. Kozilek, the Great Distortion iterates on the first card by replacing annihilator with the world’s most tedious counter ability. Kozilek refills the caster’s hand, forcing other players to tiptoe around potential mana values and getting their spells countered free of charge if they pick the wrong number. This Kozilek also forgoes indestructible in favor of more control over the stack, and a 12/12 menace puts people down in two hits.

#6. Azlask, the Swelling Scourge

Azlask, the Swelling Scourge is a totally different eldrazi commander.

For starters, it’s a 3-drop, and you can play any color of eldrazi you like. The focus here is to go wide with colorless creatures, mainly the eldrazi scions and spawns. You’ll get experience counters when they die or are sacrificed, and if you play with eldrazi, this happens a lot.

Once you get a big enough army and experience counters, you can hit hard by activating the ability on Azlask. To give your spawns and scions annihilator and indestructible is an excellent way to turn those little 0/1 tokens into something fiercer.

With this 5-color commander, you’re more interested in cards like Kozilek's Predator and Emrakul's Hatcher, and less interested in big Eldrazi titans due to all the synergies. However, you can play a few as late-game options.

#5. Herigast, Erupting Nullkite

Herigast, Erupting Nullkite is a red commander that gives the emerge ability to all your creature spells. The best way to use this commander is with cards like Solemn Simulacrum, which you want to cast and sacrifice later to emerge your commander. Since you’re sacrificing creatures to the emerge ability, you don’t mind effects that cheat into play, creatures until the end of turn, like Sneak Attack. Herigast is a dragon, so one route to explore is to fill your deck with expensive dragons.

#4. Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is basically the Galactus of Magic. There’s something terrifying about a giant unfeeling tentacle monster with an insatiable appetite for entire planes. College me can relate.

WotC correctly determined that annihilator is about as fun as a stubbed toe, so Ulamog 2.0 dropped the mechanic altogether in favor of exiling 20 cards on attacks. I don’t normally fret about incidental mill, but 20 is danger territory and your best answer to Ulamog is always in that first 20. Because of course it is. Ulamog also vaporizes two permanents on cast, leaving you with a commander that literally eats away at your opponents.

#3. Emrakul, the World Anew

Is there a way to win only using my opponents’ creatures while using only colorless mana? Now there is! Besides being a ridiculous bomb, Emrakul, the World Anew can be cheated from the command zone into play by paying 6 colorless mana. You’ll need some support to discard in colorless, so cards like Collector's Vault or Geier Reach Sanitarium can do the trick. Your mana generation will all be colorless too, so paying the 6 c mana won’t be a problem.

#2. Emrakul, the Promised End

Oh look, Emrakul made it onto the list anyway. Mindslaver is already on many players’ naughty lists; turns out making it a 13/13 flampler with protection from instants, that can cost as little as four mana (thank you battles!) and can work as a solid delirium commander, didn’t change anyone’s mind. Emrakul at least “makes up for it” by refunding the turn it steals from the chosen player. By that time, the damage is usually done.

#1. Ulalek, Fused Atrocity

Now this is a very interesting eldrazi commander to build a deck around. Ulalek, Fused Atrocity is a 5-color commander that doesn’t care which edrazi spell you cast, big or small, as long as you can pay some extra mana to copy it. You’ll have a trade-off between casting expensive spells and cheap spells with the “kicker.” If you have a way to cast spells with flash, you’ll be able to use Ulalek’s copy power to full extent. Just keep in mind that the rules regarding copying spells and effects on the stack aren’t easy to grasp, and many a playgroup gets them wrong, even with practice.

Best Eldrazi Commander Enablers and Payoffs

Eldrazi commander decks are mainly ramp decks in which the payoff is casting a huge Eldrazi titan. With many of these commanders, you have to ask yourself why you’d lock yourself into a colorless commander deck. The answer is usually one of these titans, and there are advantages to doing so.

The most obvious boon to an all-colorless deck is its mana base. You have no color requirements, so you’re free to run as many utility lands as you want without missing a beat. I don’t often include Rogue's Passage and Reliquary Tower in decks with heavy color requirements, but they don’t punish you at all here.

I’d caution to still run somewhere around 5-10 Wastes. These can help you combat cards like Back to Basics and Ruination and give you something to fetch if you get targeted by Ghost Quarter.

Having an eldrazi as your commander unlocks the potential of a few powerful cards that don’t work in most decks. Eldrazi Temple and Eye of Ugin are staples for any of these commanders.

Shrine of the Forsaken Gods fits perfectly, and you can even run Cloudpost and Glimmerpost or the Tron lands to great effect.

Being an entirely colorless deck also means you can (and should) run swathes of colorless artifact ramp. Eldrazi decks often have a small artifact subtheme to generate the mana needed to cast a 10-drop creature, although it does make them admittedly soft to artifact sweepers like Vandalblast. I tend to like the mana rocks that can be cashed in for cards later like Mind Stone, Hedron Archive, and Stonespeaker Crystal.

Colorless decks also maximize the potential of cards like Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter, Forsaken Monument, and Ugin, the Ineffable while breaking parity on All Is Dust. One of the key cards for eldrazi decks is Not of This World, a free counterspell for anything that targets one of your large eldrazi creatures. Just watch out for that one player out there running Void Mirror in EDH.

Modern Horizons 3 added many payoffs for running an eldrazi strategy. Cards like Idol of False Gods can both ramp into your big eldrazi and benefit from them. Ugin's Labyrinth is a huge deal in these decks, and allows you to store an expensive spell while having a painless Ancient Tomb.

If you play 5-color eldrazi commanders like Ulalek, Fused Atrocity and Azlask, the Swelling Scourge, cards like Kozilek's Unsealing and Path of Annihilation reward you from casting expensive creature spells. Meanwhile, Ugin's Binding is the second coming of Cyclonic Rift if you have big eldrazi by your side.

It's All Emra-cool With Me

Emrakul, the Promised End | Illustration by Jaime Jones

There’s something inherently cool and weird about building a whole Commander deck around a colorless Eldrazi titan. WotC keeps giving the eldrazi love, and we can play colored ones, too. Modern Horizons 3 opened up a lot of options, and added all sorts of good and powerful cards to reward you for playing these crazy titans.

Do you play any of the eldrazi legends as a commander? If so, which ones, and what was your most devastating play? Also, if you’ve found a way to make Hanweir, the Writhing Township a secret commander, I’d love to know how! Let me know in the comments or over in the Draftsim Discord.

Thank you for reading, and stay safe!

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