How Fun Are The Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commanders?
Teval, the Balanced Scale | Illustrated by Chris Rahn
Betor, Ancestor's Voice | Illustrated by Lius Lasahido
Ureni of the Unwritten | Illustrated by Valera Lutfullina
Shiko, Paragon of the Way | Illustrated by Victor Adame Minguez
Neriv, Crackling Vanguard | Illustrated by Lucas Graciano
Hey, nerds! With the release of Tarkir: Dragstorm, we're introduced to 39 new commanders, and while many people might ask which of these is the most powerful, I like to ask how fun they are.
Of course, each person's definition of fun differs, so I might rate a commander lower or higher than you; that doesn't mean I think it's bad or that you're bad for playing them, and to be clear, this is for casual EDH only.
The ranks are as follows:
- Want to build: I'm interested in building these commanders. Their effect could be unique or a new take on an old mechanic I like.
- Fun: These are close to wanting to build, but I'm not going out of my way to brew a list for myself.
- Could Be Fun: These commanders are powerful and don't pull you in a single direction, but because of that, it allows you to build weird strategies with a powerful engine.
- Fun In The 99: Sometimes, commanders are printed for 60-card Magic or to support a theme. I don't want to call them not fun, since they usually are fun. But just not fun as the leader of a deck.
- Not Fun: This is usually reserved for older commanders who are seven-mana vanilla creatures, something way too jank, or are too salt-inducing for my taste.
Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage
A mono white sacrifice commander that can either lean into tokens or Voltron. It does require the creatures to be nontoken, but white has a decent amount of recursion, especially for cheap creatures with Sun Titan
Ranking: Want To Build
Betor, Ancestor's Voice
The second commander for the Abzan precon. They seem like a solid value engine commander. Gaining life in Abzan is easy enough, as is finding cards to pay life. If you didn't know, life loss and life gain are tracked separately, so if you pay ten life but gain ten life, you've both lost and gained ten life, and if you exchange life totals, the difference is counted as gain or loss. This is great with Tree of Redemption, which is in the precon. You can exchange life with the tree, losing 27. Then, if you can untap the tree, you can swap the life back and gain 27. Eight cards in Abzan let you exchange life totals.
Ranking: Fun
Betor, Kin to All
Another Abzan toughness matters commander, which isn't a bad thing. I like having options for unique strategies. I love that it counts total toughness on the board on the end step and not upkeep. Allowing you to get value from them as a commander on the turn you play them, and it can one-shot people if you have Wound Reflection, Archfiend of Despair, or Astarion, the Decadent in play since those abilities check the life loss as they resolve.
Ranking: Fun
Elsha, Threefold Master
Elsah is an incredibly powerful Jeskai aggro commander. Jeskai has no shortage of powerful combat tricks with Shadow Rift, Legion Leadership, and Temur Battle Rage. My only fear with this commander is you'll end up taking out one person early, then the table quickly removes the Elsha player. I have no doubt this could be a fun commander, but I'd rather jam them in the 99 of a deck.
Ranking: Could Be Fun
Eshki Dragonclaw
This version of Eshki feels like an excellent role-player in Temur decks. You have to cast your spells precombat, which you don't always want to do, and on top of that, you need both a creature and noncreature. I could see them in an Adventure deck with cards like Bonecrusher Giant, but I think they'll be way more fun in the 99.
Ranking: Fun In The 99
Eshki, Temur's Roar
I like this Eshki a lot better than the previous one. It is a great value engine if you're looking to build a creature-based deck, but the deck doesn't need Eshki in play to function. Also, since Eshki is the one dealing damage, you can give them infect with Corrupted Conscience, Grafted Exoskeleton, or Triumph of the Hordes to one-shot the table. Or lifelink to gain a million life.
Ranking: Fun
Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan
Seems like a solid Abzan sacrifice commander that pairs well with +1/+1 counters. I'd want to add Basking Broodscale, Scurry Oak, and Herd Baloth in the deck since they provide tokens to sacrifice for Felothar's ability. You can also sacrifice noncreature tokens, like Blood, Treasure, or Clues. Much like Eshki, Termu's Roar, I think Felothar is a fun commander and is basically a powerful value engine. I'm thinking about building them as a hidden Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh deck since Abzan has no shortage of creature tutors.
Ranking: Fun
Felothar the Steadfast
I love seeing more toughness-matters commanders. I think Felothar is a strictly better Doran, the Siege Tower. Okay, maybe not strictly better, since the Treefolk type can matter. But I'd argue that Human is a better creature type. But getting back on track here, Felothar is easily goes into the Want to Build tier for me. I've wanted to build a toughness deck, but Arcades, the Strategist never really interested me. Plus I have a foil etched Colfenor, the Last Yew that has been sitting in my binder since 2020, and I finally have a home for it!
Ranking: Want To Build
Kotis, Sibsig Champion
Kotis is an incredibly underwhelming commander, in my opinion. The abilities feel at odds with each other. You want to cast creatures from your graveyard to grow Kotis. However, you also want to give Kotis keywords so it can do something. Sure, you can sacrifice it to Altar of Dementia or Essence Harvest for value, but that feels like a lot of work for mediocre value. I'm happy to be proven wrong here, and maybe I'm missing some key interaction, but Kotis seems great in the 99, not at the helm.
Ranking: Fun In The 99
Kotis, the Fangkeeper
Just like the Koti before, I think this is a solid 99 commander. I have the same issue with Kotis as I do with Elsah. I'm not a fan of commanders I need to deal combat damage with. I'd rather smack someone for 21 damage and get to Villainous Wealth them for 21 instead of removing them from the game. Well, hitting someone for 21 might knock them out anyway, but you get my point. Kotis could make a fun Voltron thief commander that scales with the power of the table, but I'd rather jam them in the 99 of a dedicated deck.
Ranking: Fun In The 99
Narset, Jeskai Waymaster
When I first read this commander, I assumed it was a spellslinger commander, but using the power of reading comprehension and two cups of coffee, I realized it is any spell, so you could build a creature-based deck, artifacts, or spellslinger. With how open ended this commander is, I think they deserve a spot in Could Be Fun. There will be cool unique builds featuring Narset, but there will also be the usual combo piles that use their ability to dig through their deck.
Ranking: Could Be Fun
Neriv, Crackling Vanguard
Neriv reminds me of a Mardu version of Gimbal, Gremlin Prodigy, but instead of making tokens, we get impulse draw, which lets us take full advantage of cards that want us to play cards from exile, like Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival, Prosper, Tome-Bound, and Iraxxa, Empress of Mars. Plus, you don't lose the spells after exiling them. You just need to attack with your commander again, so make sure to add some ways to give haste to creatures, so you don't need to wait a turn to attack.
Ranking: Fun
Neriv, Heart of the Storm
Have you heard of the cards Spark Elemental, Ball Lightning, and Lightning Skelemental? Well, now you have, and boy, does this sound fun. There are nine Ball Lightning style cards in Mardu colors, which isn't quite enough to build a full deck. But we can add Molten Echoes and Mirror March to make additional copies of these creatures. We can also add dash creatures, like Flamerush Rider, Death-Greeter's Champion, and Riders of Rohan. The other idea was building Mardu Goblins, and Neriv can act as a combo finisher with General Kreat, the Boltbringer or Pashalik Mons and a sac outlet.
Ranking: Fun
Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant
This feels like a great role-player in a Dragon deck. I'm not sure how great this is as a commander. You only get the Treasure token once, and the only other benefit is Sarkhan getting bigger. I'd like more out of my commanders for a creature type that requires so much mana. Plus I can't play all of the cool new Dragons from this set if I'm stuck in mono-red.
Ranking: Fun In The 99
Shiko and Narset, Unified
This reminds me of Zevlor, Elturel Exile but in Jeskai. The effect isn't as powerful as Zevlor, but is much easier to trigger on other players' turns, and even if you don't copy it, you still get to draw. This commander rewards you for playing Magic: The Gathering. This effect can be powerful with draw spells that targets like Blue Sun's Zenith, Braingeyser, and Commander's Insight. And if you can get infinite mana, which shouldn't be an issue in Jeskai, you can have two players' draw their entire libraries at once. I think there will be cool builds with them, given they are a precon commander. But at first glance, they seem pretty straightforward and unexciting. I'm open to having my mind changed.
Ranking: Could Be Fun
Shiko, Paragon of the Way
Shiko looks like a bomb in limited and like a great card for the 99 of a Dragon deck in Commander. You could build a blink deck with them, but I'm not convinced the juice is worth the squeeze here. However, in a dedicated Dragon deck, you can recur ramp spells, cantrips, or other role-players.
Ranking: Fun In The 99
Sidisi, Regent of the Mire
I've gone back and forth on where to put this commander. On one hand, it's a Birthing Pod for your graveyard, which is neat, and it doesn't have a cost associated with that ability. On the other hand, it has the potential to lead to very samey feeling games where you get the same creatures into the graveyard and win. I like the idea of using Lazotep Sliver, Basal Sliver, Staff of Domination, and whatever other Slivers you can use to fill out the curve to combo. I'll put it in the fun tier, but it is close to the could be fun.
Ranking: Fun
Surrak, Elusive Hunter
This is like a fixed Nadu, Winged Wisdom but so much worse. Also, if your opponent has an Orcish Bowmasters, you instantly lose the game unless you can remove the Bowmaster at instant speed since the draw trigger isn't a may. Seems solid in the 99 of a deck, but zero interest in running this as a commander.
Ranking: Fun In The 99
Taigam, Master Opportunist
Much like Shiko and Narset, Unified, Taigam rewards you for playing the game. He isn't nearly as busted as Jhoira of the Ghitu, which is great, and it probably has a home in the many Doctor Who suspend decks. Being mono-blue does limit how much we can abuse this effect, but we have Time Beetle, Clockspinning, and All of History, All at Once to turbo out spells, then copy them again. Depending on how you build Taigam it can be a cool spells matter commander or an extra turns nightmare. So for that reason, it goes into the could be fun tier.
Ranking: Could Be Fun
Tersa Lightshatter
Tersa rounds out our mono-colored commanders of the set and much like new Surrak and Sarkhan, I think they are a solid role-player in the 99 of Prosper, Tome-Bound and Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald style decks. Their first ability is only on enters, and that second ability, while cool, requires setup. Red is great at looting, but adding another color to help mill seems ideal.
Ranking: Fun In The 99
Teval, Arbiter of Virtue
When I first saw this card, I was floored. A commander that gives all your spells delve?! Then I finished reading the card and it turns out my mind wasn't actually changed. In Magic life is a resource, and in commander we have a lot of it, and I'd gladly pay life and delve cards away to cast Profane Transfusion, Exsanguinate, and Villainous Wealth for super cheap. It might be my love for Sultai, but I'm putting Teval in fun. Granted it is at the tail end of fun, right above Sidisi.
Ranking: Fun
Teval, the Balanced Scale
I love when Wizards prints a pretty much strictly better version of a commander I love. For a little backstory, I've had a Tormod, the Desecrator and Kamahl, Heart of Krosa partner deck for about four years at this point. I've been tweaking and tuning that deck, and I always had the issue that it was too strong versus precons, but too weak versus tuned decks, and part of that issue was the tapped Zombies it makes. Well, Teval does exactly what Tormod does, but it also fuels its own ability and makes untapped Zombies! Technically, Zombie Druids, which you can combo with Gilt-Leaf Archdruid to steal lands. This is easily the commander I'm most excited to build. Any deck where I can slam Life from the Loam, The Gitrog Monster, and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, I'm in.
Ranking: Want To Build
Ureni of the Unwritten
If you want to build Temur Dragons, Ureni is the second-best choice. Seven mana for a commander is a lot, but have you seen Maelstrom Wanderer before? Ureni reminds me of Maelstrom a bit. You can abuse the fact that it has an enter trigger by bouncing it to your hand with Crystal Shard or Erratic Portal and cast it again, and you can double up on its trigger with Virtue of Knowledge, Reflections of Littjara, and Molten Echoes. Technically the last two just make token copies of Ureni, but you get the same outcome.
Ranking: Fun
Ureni, the Song Unending
I love that Ureni has protection from white and black, and that's about it. I think it'll do great in the 99 of lands or Dragons deck as removal on a stick, but I don't see a ton of appeal about having this as a commander. You can't even combo it with Stuffy Doll or Brash Taunter because you can't target your own creatures. Maybe it's worth just playing to have removal in the command zone, but I want more than that out of an eight-mana creature.
Ranking: Fun In The 99
Zurgo Stormrender
I love this Zurgo. A friend of mine, Wes, has a Zurgo Helmsmasher Mardu Goblins deck that is slick, and Zurgo Stormrender takes this idea and makes it so much better. Goblin decks make so many 1/1 tokens that become sacrifice fodder for Skirk Prospector or Goblin Bombardment, and with Zurgo, we can turn these 1/1s into cards or more damage. It gives the deck some much-needed reach and card advantage that it was lacking, and even if you don't build Goblins, Zurgo is a great token commander.
Ranking: Want To Build
Zurgo, Thunder's Decree
My first impression of this Zurgo was not great. Not bad, but not great. I thought it was just a good draft card and might see some play in Standard. Then I remembered red has a ton of effects that make tokens until the end of the turn. And if we copy warriors, we can get around the sacrifice trigger. You can copy warriors using Feldon of the Third Path, Cadric, Soul Kindler, and Calamity, Galloping Inferno. My favorite card might be Minion Reflector. It is expensive mana wise but provides a repeatable way to make copies of creatures.
Ranking: Fun
I'd love to hear which Tarkir: Dragonstorm commander you're looking forward to building. And be on the lookout for some deck techs featuring commanders on this list.
Alrighty nerds, I'll see you in the next one.
