All 21 Snake Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on June 20, 2025

Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro | Illustration by Nottsuo

A few days ago, I was spending my last bit of gold completing the Aetherdrift MTG set on Arena, when I came across Skyserpent Seeker. The art immediately caught my eye, and after checking out the card, a question popped into my head: How many snake commanders are out there—and which ones are the best?

Well, I did some research, and today we’re breaking down the top snake commanders in MTG and looking at their strengths and synergies, and the best ways to build around them.

Whether you're brewing a full-on snake typal deck or just want to see which ones slither to the top, there's something here for you!

What Are Snake Commanders in MTG?

Shigeki, Jukai Visionary | Illustration by Anna Podedworna

Snake commanders in Magic: The Gathering are legendary creatures with the snake creature type. They often share synergies focused on typal support, mana generation, and combat-related abilities, setting them apart from other creature types like goblins or elves.

For this list, I’ll go over all legendary snakes printed so far, with one minor exception: Orochi Eggwatcher. While Shidako, Broodmistress is a legendary snake, its original flip side isn’t, so you can’t run it as a commander. I’m also excluding creatures that care about snakes or mention them, but aren’t snakes themselves.

#21. Sivriss, Nightmare Speaker

Forcing opponents into tough choices is a powerful strategy, and Sivriss, Nightmare Speaker does it masterfully. Sivriss also lets you run a background, so you can shape the deck to fit different playstyles like a classic aristocrats build with Revel in Riches and Pawn of Ulamog or an artifact recursion engine with Myr Retriever and Trading Post.

#20. Sosuke, Son of Seshiro

Sosuke, Son of Seshiro mainly supports snake typal decks as it serves as a lord for snakes. It also slightly supports warriors with its other ability, essentially giving them deathtouch to make them threatening blockers.

#19. Shisato, Whispering Hunter

Locking down opponents is a brutal strategy, and Shisato, Whispering Hunter does it in style. Every time it deals combat damage to a player, they skip their next untap step, so it’s a nightmare to deal with. Keeping it around may be challenging, so the deck leans on Snake token generators like Orochi Hatchery to keep the pressure on. With the right setup, Shisato can completely stall out opponents while you take control of the game.

#18. Sidisi, Regent of the Mire

Sidisi, Regent of the Mire snuck in last minute as a new addition from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. It's a “pod commander” for the graveyard essentially, working up a chain of mana values to get progressively stronger and stronger creatures back into play. Its slow and methodical nature means it's probably not all the competitive, but it's a cool concept compared to other pod commanders that pull creatures from your library.

#17. Shizuko, Caller of Autumn

Shizuko, Caller of Autumn’s ability grants everyone each turn, making it a ramping group hug commander. It encourages fast, explosive games but benefits those who can utilize green mana better than opponents. The deck can exploit mana sinks like Hurricane or Omnath, Locus of Mana.

#16. Sakiko, Mother of Summer

Swinging in with creatures gets even better when it fuels your next big play, and that's exactly what Sakiko, Mother of Summer brings to the table. Every point of combat damage turns into green mana, setting up explosive post-combat turns. That extra mana makes X-spells like Finale of Devastation and Genesis Wave absolutely devastating. The key is making sure your creatures connect, so trample and other forms of evasion are a must to keep the mana flowing.

#15. Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro

Turning shamans into mana dorks is a wild strategy, and Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro makes it happen. Every shaman taps for double green, which means you can flood the board and power out massive spells with ease.

#14. Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Sidisi, Undead Vizier turns sacrifice into pure value, letting you tutor for exactly what you need when you need it. Cards like Reassembling Skeleton, Pitiless Plunderer, and Phyrexian Reclamation keep the sacrifice engine running, letting you tutor multiple times per game. Sidisi is a very good mono-black combo commander.

#13. Seshiro the Anointed

Snake tribal doesn’t get much better than Seshiro the Anointed. It buffs your snakes, but it also lets you draw a card whenever they deal combat damage, keeping your hand full while swinging hard. This makes for an aggressive, go-wide strategy where every attack fuels the next. With cards like Sosuke's Summons, you get a steady stream of snakes, making the deck both resilient and explosive.

#12. Lonis, Genetics Expert

Mixing +1/+1 counters with Clue tokens, Lonis, Genetics Expert brings a flexible and powerful game plan to Simic decks (). Thanks to evolve, it naturally grows as bigger creatures enter, and every counter placed nets you a Clue, stacking up card advantage. Counter-doubling effects like Hardened Scales make this even stronger, while artifact synergies keep the engine running. This midrange strategy can build up slowly or explode into massive turns when the pieces come together.

#11. Kaseto, Orochi Archmage

Kaseto, Orochi Archmage is the perfect snake commander, making creatures unblockable while boosting your snakes. A deck packed with snakes takes full advantage of this, ensuring combat damage triggers for cards like Seshiro the Anointed to keep the pressure on. But Kaseto isn’t just about typal synergies—it also makes for a strong Voltron-style commander, making itself unblockable and stacking auras and equipment for a quick and deadly commander damage win. Whether you're going wide with snakes or all-in on Kaseto, this deck is all about evasive, hard-hitting attacks.

#10. Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper

Turning toughness into lifegain is a solid game plan, and Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper does it effortlessly. Every time your creatures deal damage, you gain life equal to their toughness, making beefy creatures a great fit. With partner, you can pair Ikra with Ravos, Soultender for recursion or Tymna the Weaver for extra card draw. All that lifegain means you can go on the offensive without worrying about taking hits in return.

#9. Shigeki, Jukai Visionary

Shigeki, Jukai Visionary is a powerful ramp and recursion engine, perfect for value-focused strategies. It accelerates your mana while filling the graveyard, setting up future plays. Its channel ability lets you return nonlegendary cards to your hand at the right moment, making it a reliable source of card advantage. With self-mill and big mana payoffs, Shigeki ensures a steady flow of resources and impactful plays.

Sadly, as a commander, you won’t be able to make use of its channel ability initially, so it's almost always better to run it as a support card in the 99.

#8. Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant

Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant is the definition of “go big or go home” when it comes to land-based ramp. Once flipped, it turns every land into a mana powerhouse, letting you cast multiple spells or a big game-ending threat. The trick is getting a full hand of lands first, which spells like Journey of Discovery, Winding Way, and Abundance make easy. Once flipped, you're looking at game-ending plays like Chord of Calling or a straight-up win with Helix Pinnacle.

#7. Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate

Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate works great in a colorless +1/+1 counter strategy, pairing well with modular creatures and Eldrazi Spawn tokens. As it builds up counters, it becomes either a powerful beater or a key combo piece. When it dies, it manifests multiple cards, potentially flipping into even more threats.

#6. Lonis, Cryptozoologist

A steady flow of Clue tokens makes for a strong control strategy, and Lonis, Cryptozoologist delivers. Every time a creature enters, you investigate, fueling card draw or letting you cash in Clues to steal an opponent’s best permanent. With token generators, blink effects, and artifact synergies, Lonis keeps the value flowing turn after turn. Cards like Academy Manufactor and Tamiyo's Journal synergize perfectly with it to get additional value.

#5. Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty

Big-mana spells feel even better when they come with a freebie. Enter Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty. Anything that costs 6 or more automatically cascades, letting you chain spells for massive value.

With that in mind, ramp is key, helping you drop huge threats like Genesis Wave or Rampaging Baloths as early as possible. Just be careful not to run too many of those, as you’ll end up cascading into a ramp spell, which feels horrible. I know from experience.

#4. Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer

Morph and manifest decks don’t get a commander much better than Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer. With a cost reduction on your first face-down creature each turn and extra card draw when they enter, you can keep the board developing without running out of gas. Many morph creatures come with built-in tricks like removal or disruption, making this deck a nightmare for opponents to predict. Cards like Ixidron, Mystic Forge, and Dream Chisel help you cheat out creatures and keep the value train rolling.

#3. Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

Sidisi, Brood Tyrant is a very solid commander for self-mill strategies, turning every creature that hits the graveyard into a zombie token. With cards like Hedron Crab, Golgari Grave-Troll, and Underrealm Lich, you can fill your graveyard in a blink of an eye, and more importantly in a steady pace to ensure constant flow of tokens. On top of that, you can throw some tribal synergies into the deck so it can snowball fast, overwhelming opponents with an ever-growing horde. Once Sidisi gets rolling, it’s hard to stop.

#2. Chishiro, the Shattered Blade

Chishiro, the Shattered Blade is all about stacking auras, equipment, and counters to keep the pressure on. Dropping an aura or equipment spits out a 2/2 Spirit with menace, and every modified creature gets a +1/+1 counter at the end of your turn. You can go Voltron by suiting up Chishiro or flood the board with buffed-up creatures. Cards like Embercleave and Sword of the Animist are among the best equipment you can use on it.

#1. Xyris, the Writhing Storm

If you love turning card draw into an army, Xyris, the Writhing Storm is the perfect commander for you. Cards like Windfall, Wheel of Fortune, and Teferi's Puzzle Box force opponents to draw huge hands, giving you an instant swarm of snakes to overwhelm them.

But Xyris doesn’t stop there—if it connects in combat, you and that player each draw a ton of cards, fueling even more madness. Giving it double strike with Savage Beating or unblockable with Whispersilk Cloak turns that damage into even more card advantage. And if you want to go big, Shared Animosity turns your massive snake token army into a lethal force, while Beastmaster Ascension ensures they hit hard to potentially win you the game.

Commanding Conclusion

Lonis, Cryptozoologist | Illustration by Andrew Mar

Snake commanders come in a wide variety of forms; some exploit token generation while others are focused on typal synergies and deal damage effects.

Which snake commander did you like the most? Let us know in the comments!

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