The 29 Most Unique Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on December 22, 2025

Magar of the Magic Strings | Illustration by Tomek Larek

So you’re looking to build a new Commander deck. You’re not super interested in being the fourth person in your meta with a Thrasios-Tymna partner pairing, and you’ve grown quite tired of token decks that can’t win without Craterhoof Behemoth. Your playgroup’s hostile towards Tergrid, so that’s out, and you haven’t pulled out Urza, Lord High Artificer since that one incident a few weeks ago. What’s an aspiring deckbuilder to do?

How about something a bit more… unique? Unique doesn’t mean good, it doesn’t mean bad. It just means… different. And different can lead to some very interesting decks and matches, especially when it gives you an excuse to dig up old forgotten cards people haven’t seen since they opened their first Exodus pack circa 1998. Let’s see if we can give a few strange commanders a shot.

What Makes a Commander Unique in MTG?

Obeka, Splitter of Seconds | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

“Unique” is a pretty broad term, but I’m looking for two things here: commanders that do something that nearly no other commander does, or commanders that encourage you to build off-beat decks or play underrepresented cards that you wouldn’t play in a typical deck. In other words, these cards either do something unique, or lead you to build a unique deck.

That still leaves a lot of room to the imagination, but I’ll be digging up commanders with unique rules text, ones that ask you to build around a unique subcategory of cards, or ones that require warping an entire deck around them, preferably something you’d never build without that exact commander encouraging you to do it.

Also worth noting I’m only looking at cards that can be a commander without Rule 0 implications. No silver-bordered stuff or commanders you’d have to barter for, like Ormendahl, Profane Prince or Heroes of the Realm cards.

Honorable Mentions

Nonsensical Commanders

There’s a huge category of cards that are commanders that don’t actually make sense to put in the command zone. Essentially, these are Rube Goldberg machine commanders that you play as a meme, or because you like the challenge of jumping through hoops to make them work. I didn’t want to occupy many slots in the rankings with cards like this, since they effectively start you off with a handicap, but they have a lot that appeals to Johnny/Jenny players.

This category includes cards that you can’t even cast from the command zone, like Phage the Untouchable or Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, or grandeur creatures that ask you to play multiple copies in a singleton format (Tarox Bladewing, for example). Yes, you can make all of these work in roundabout ways, but they’re more puzzling than unique.

Typal Oddities

Similarly, this list could be heavily populated by commanders that incentivize you to play with an off-beat creature type. Think Shroofus Sproutsire for saprolings or Alandra, Sky Dreamer for drakes. Then there are mash-up commanders like The Archimandrite or Butch DeLoria, Tunnel Snake that combine strange typal synergies together. While these are all individually unique and interesting, they’re collectively not all that different than any other typal commanders (just build around the creature types they mention), so I’m not focusing on them.

Mechanic-Specific Commanders

As with typal legends, it’s easy to fill this list up with commanders that are the only representative of a specific keyword or card type. Marina Vendrell is the rooms commander, Go-Shintai of Life's Origin is the shrines commander, Marvo, Deep Operative is the only “clash” commander… stuff like that. That’s all solitary, sure, but it doesn’t make for compelling conversation; just build around the thing they tell you to build around.

#29. Vanilla Legends

Aetherdrift gave people a reason to care about vanilla legendary creatures again, but just barely. Kicking off a game of Commander with a truly vanilla creature in the command zone is already an uphill struggle, but there’s at least a challenge to overcome for those who want the extra motivation.

If I wanted to do this, I’d start with a vanilla that could end the game via commander damage, so 3-Hit Club members like Yargle, Glutton of Urborg, Terrian, World Tyrant, or Kalakscion, Hunger Tyrant.

#28. Skullbriar, the Walking Grave

I like to think of Skullbriar, the Walking Grave as the progenitor of Arena’s “perpetual” mechanic, where buffs to a creature persist across different zones. That’s the idea here, with Skullbriar stacking up counters as it moves in and out of the command zone or graveyard. This was way more prevalent back in 2013 or so, but it’s pretty weak by today’s standards and folds like a lawn chair to bounce spells and -1/-1 counters (which can actually take Skullbriar out of commission permanently).

#27. Ob Nixilis, Unshackled

Again, “unique” doesn’t necessarily mean good. Ob Nixilis, Unshackled is an anti-tutor commander that punishes opponents for… shuffling their libraries? Strange, but that opens the door to a whole deck based on forced shuffles. It really makes you scour the text on cards for that “may” word. The distinction between something like Demolition Field and Field of Ruin is clear when one’s chunking you for 10 damage, and you can be extra spiteful with cards like Scheming Symmetry.

#26. Isshin + Wulfgar

I mean, Wulfgar of Icewind Dale technically did it first, but Isshin, Two Heavens as One is the more popular attack trigger doubler, and in arguably better colors for this effect. They’re both easy to build around, with lots of flexible options, and Windcrag Siege suggests we’ll see more of these abilities soon.

#25. Leori, Sparktouched Hunter

Leori, Sparktouched Hunter is one of only two cards that ask you to select a planeswalker type, as in Chandra, or Jace, or Tibalt. Its combat damage trigger lets you double-activate ‘walkers of the chosen type, which makes it an interesting home for a deck built entirely around one or two planeswalker characters. I recommend Chandra, who has 21 planeswalker cards for some reason. Just… don’t pick Lukka.

#24. Grothama, All-Devouring

I can’t for the life of me think of another card templated quite like Grothama, All-Devouring. Any attacking creature can fight it in the hopes of slaying the wurm and getting a huge chunk of cards, but other players can sneak in with burn effects to piggy-back off the death trigger.

In case you’re wondering, this card was released in the Two-Headed Giant Battlebond set, and the idea was that you and your partner could team up and fight your own Grothama to cash out on extra cards.

#23. Kethek, Crucible Goliath

Pod commanders are plentiful, from Prime Speaker Vannifar to Yisan, the Wanderer Bard. But the thing that makes Birthing Pod effects powerful is that they work up a mana value chain towards progressively stronger creatures. Kethek, Crucible Goliath works in reverse, sacrificing more powerful creatures to get smaller ones.

So the question is: Why would I want to do this? Well, it’s a fun way to take advantage of utility creatures with high mana values (Shriekmaw comes to mind), and the classic Rakdos steal-and-sac strategy also fits pretty well.

#22. Hope Estheim

Final Fantasy has an absurd number of legendaries, so some of them were bound to stick out. Hope Estheim is as simple as it gets, but a headscratcher when it comes to what it’s actually asking you to do. Lifegain and mill go together like milk and hot sauce, so Hope comes off as promoting a very strange strategy. Though as the pioneer of a new half-mill, half-lifegain archetype, it’s certainly doing something novel.

#21. Yidris + Breya+ Saskia

The Commander 2016 decks shook up Magic with the first-ever 4-color legendary creatures, though that got botched a little by the addition of 2-color partners introduced in the same decks. Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder, Breya, Etherium Shaper, and Saskia the Unyielding are the only remaining 4-color legends that don’t have another commander in their color quartet. That makes them the only options for their exact color identities without using partners.

#20. The Beamtown Bullies

Reanimation, except for your opponents. Two types of players pilot The Beamtown Bullies: those that want to play some chaotic group hug strategy, and those who want to “gift” their opponents self-destructive cards like Leveler and Eater of Days.

#19. Norin the Wary

If you want a total scaredy-cat in the commander zone, look no further than Norin the Wary. Even the slightest sign of trouble and they’re on the run. But this funny little exile ability can be the crux of an entire deck.

Norin’s an excellent enabler for creaturefall payoffs, whether that’s an Impact Tremors effect, a chaos card like Confusion in the Ranks, or an alliance permanent like Witty Roastmaster. Norin’s also a 1-drop commander that’s nearly immune to board wipes and theft effects, so it’s a very reliable card to build around.

#18. Magar of the Magic Strings

Magar of the Magic Strings is just strange, and definitely feels like an Unfinity commander. Except there’s no acorn stamp here, so everything’s totally legal. It’s a potentially dangerous commander too, turning game-winning spells in your graveyard into threats that then cast those spells if they connect in combat. It’s notable that Magar doesn’t make tokens, it literally just puts your spells on the board face-down, kind of like morphs and manifests.

#17. Obosh, the Preypiercer + Gyruda, Doom of Depths

Caring about odd or even mana values is a unique deckbuilding restriction, which gets even more restrictive if you’re trying to companion Obosh, the Preypiercer or Gyruda, Doom of Depths. You can run them as normal commanders and ignore the companion clause, though you’re still crafting your curve around their respective abilities.

Technically Soundwave, Sonic Spy/Soundwave, Superior Captain also plays in this space, but the card is dumb on so many levels that I refuse to acknowledge its existence beyond this paragraph.

#16. Garth One-Eye

Leave it to the Modern Horizons sets to create commanders that play out like Alchemy cards. That’s essentially what Garth One-Eye is, using a paper-friendly version of Arena’s “conjure” mechanic to create copies of classic Magic cards. Garth’s one of the only ways you’re getting an actual, factual Black Lotus into your Commander games.

#15. Ghyrson Starn + Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin

These two commanders both play well with pingers, rewarding you in different ways for dealing damage in increments of exactly 1. Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph’s essentially a damage tripler for 1-point life hits, and Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin rewards these pings with impulse draws while becoming a monster itself. These are both fun build-around commanders, and I appreciate that they’re pseudo-burn commanders that don’t want you to play all the usual damage doublers.

#14. Y’shtola Rhul

Magic is absolutely lousy with cards that give you extra combats, but they’ve been experimenting more with effects that tinker with other parts of the turn. Y'shtola Rhul just straight-up gives you another end step. It’s basically a double Conjurer's Closet on its own, but it also lets you trigger any “beginning of end step” effects you have a second time each turn.

#13. Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow

You’ve probably died to Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow at least once or twice. It’s extremely popular and strong, and still holds the only instance of commander ninjutsu. I don’t know if this qualifies as a “design mistake” in the eyes of WotC, but there’s probably a reason we don’t see many cards like Yuriko and Derevi, Empyrial Tactician that bypass commander tax completely.

#12. Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle

You can’t put legendary lands in the command zone, but Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle isn’t too far off. It’s basically just that, at least until you follow up with five spells and awaken the kraken. Casting your commander and having it immediately enter as a land has its perks, for sure.

#11. Awaken the Blood Avatar

The barrier to entry for running Awaken the Blood Avatar as your commander is that you technically have to put Extus, Oriq Overlord in your command zone. But the Blood Avatar can be your “secret” commander as the card you’re actually building around. You can’t deal commander damage this way, but having your “commander” be a sorcery that produces a token is certainly unorthodox.

#10. Bruvac the Grandiloquent

It’s not making any friends, but Bruvac the Grandiloquent is still the only true mill doubler in Magic. It’s pretty trivial to win with, and immediately provokes players when it shows up in the command zone.

#9. Hylda of the Icy Crown

UW “tapdown” is an intriguing archetype, given how flat the strategy fell in Wilds of Eldraine Limited. You always have access to Hylda of the Icy Crown in Commander though, and it has a massive payoff for freezing opposing creatures. It also utilizes a bunch of terrible tapper effects that see basically no play elsewhere. You might consider Rhoda, Geist Avenger + Timin, Youthful Geist as a commander pair here as well, though that’s a significantly weaker set of cards.

#8. Ketramose, the New Dawn

Paying you off for exiling cards isn’t something we see very often, making Ketramose, the New Dawn a commander that bucks the usual Orzhov trends. Ketramose was a premier commander from Aetherdrift, and basically built an entire archetype on its back. It’s strong in Modern, has cEDH potential, and provides a massive payoff for playing exile-based cards.

#7. Carth the Lion

GB superfriends isn’t a wide-spread archetype to begin with, so Carth the Lion’s got that going for it already. But it also has a very wonky ability that basically translates to every planeswalker loyalty ability costing 1 less point to activate, which means ‘walkers go positive on 0 abilities, or stay neutral on -1 abilities. That lets you pull off some immediate emblems with Nissa, Vital Force and Garruk, Cursed Huntsman, to name a few ‘walkers Carth pairs well with.

#6. Grenzo, Dungeon Warden + River Song

Caring about the bottom of your library is strange, and something that Grenzo, Dungeon Warden and River Song both have in common. The key to these cards, with Grenzo especially, is using scry/filtering effects to set up the bottom of your library for big plays.

#5. Zilortha, Strength Incarnate

Also known as Godzilla, King of the Monsters, Zilortha, Strength Incarnate flips the script on power and toughness. We’re very used to seeing “backbone” commanders that let creatures deal damage based on their toughness, but Zilortha lets creatures tank damage based on their power. It’s the perfect home for high-power, low-toughness creatures, turning fragile glass cannon threats into fortified powerhouses.

#4. Deadpool, Trading Card

I’m still surprised Deadpool, Trading Card isn’t acorn-stamped, because textbox swapping leads to some heinous rules interactions, and I’m sure this card is being misplayed at so many Commander tables. But Deadpool’s unique mechanic to essentially perma-swap abilities with other cards opens up some really interesting deckbuilding space. It’s almost like playing a normal Switcheroo-style exchange effect, but with some busted combo potential when paired with copy and clone effects.

#3. The Celestial Toymaker

The Celestial Toymaker feels like the type of card WotC wanted to make for a while, but they didn’t have an elegant way to reference “divvy” cards. Well they just kind of went for it anyway, and while the textbox is very on-the-nose, it’s a one-of-a-kind commander for a card type that gets printed often. Fact or Fiction style effects are just fun for everyone involved, so this also ends up being an enjoyable commander to play against, too.

#2. Riku of Many Paths

Riku of Many Paths is the only card in Magic that specifically calls out “modal spells.” Now, it’s not the only commander that benefits from modal spells, but it is the only one that specifically cares about their modality. It’s the perfect home for all the Temur-aligned charms, commands, and confluences you can get your hands on, and it gives you a reason to check back in on mechanics like spree and tiered.

#1. Obeka, Splitter of Seconds

Obeka, Splitter of Seconds became very popular very quickly, owing to the fact that it’s just a unique commander. It’s like a Paradox Haze in the command zone, and does absolutely filthy things with strong upkeep triggers. Pumping Obeka also increases the number of extra upkeeps you get, so there are different directions you can take with this Grixis commander.

Commanding Conclusion

Garth One-Eye | Illustration by Micah Epstein

Surely there’s something interesting up there, yeah? Magic has a habit of taking something really cool that hits with players, and then doing that same thing over and over until it doesn’t feel all that special anymore. That means there are few truly unique commanders out there, and plenty of the entries represented here are already tip-toeing around other legends that do something very similar.

But every now and then we get a commander that pushes new boundaries, or plays with the game’s rules in a way that hasn’t been done before, or even just puts a spin on a tried-and-true archetype. These cards ask you to buck the usual deckbuilding trends and build something new and interesting, and they can be exciting commanders to play if you’re tired of typical archetypal gameplay.

Have you ever built around any of these commanders? Can you think of any other legends that do something wholly unique? Let me know in the comments below or over in the Draftsim Discord.

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