Top 30 Tribal Commanders in Magic: The Gathering

Many of the game's best commanders support particular subtypes, letting players not only fill decks with their favorite cards, but also build budget decks by making normally-average cards formidable when paired with the right supports. So let's see if your favorite units have a worthwhile lead—these are the 30 best tribe commanders in Magic: The Gathering!

Subtype: Cats

Arahbo's eminence triggers from either the field or command zone, giving another cat +3/+3 until end of turn at your combat. That's a nice boost, but it can struggle against the boosted 40-life format of commander.

That said. Arahbo can also pay three to give another attacking cat trample and double its power and toughness for the turn, so if you can protect your army from board wipes, there's hope for the aggro win.

Subtype: Cats and dogs

Whenever you cast another cat, thus duo creates a 1/1 dog, and vice versa, swarming and supporting two popular types. The pair can also tap and pay three to hit any target for damage equal to the amount of dogs you control and gain life equal to the number of cats (and since they have each subtype, they empower both effects).

Subtype: Rats

This deck swarms rats, with Marrow giving them fear and tapping to sacrifice one and create a number of 1/1s equal to how many you now control. Consider running alongside Rat Colony, which your deck can have any number of, to quickly swarm and empower your vermin.

Subtype: Wolves and Werewolves

Tovolar only takes three mana and draws when your wolf or werewolf (including himself) hits an opponent. He also automatically switches day to night if you end your turn with at least three wolves, and his back half is stronger and can pump your tribe by paying mana.

Subtype: Knights

Eminence effects are hard to stop since they work both on the field and command zone, with this one letting you draw and discard when your knight hits an opponent, and if Sidar himself deals the damage, you revive a knight from your graveyard. Not bad, it's just odd that a knight commander has blue instead of red in his color identity.

Subtype: Demons

The Demon Master has cool effects and nice color access, it's just that demons tend to be bigger and costlier plays, so they're not the easiest to swarm. Still, upon arrival he draws equal to the number you control and lets your other demons hit any target for their power on entry.

Subtype: Angels, demons, and dragons

I've always found Kaalia a little overrated, but there's no denying the awesome factor of combining demons, dragons, and angels—Kaalia plays one for free when attacking, letting you cheat out some of the biggest titans in the game. Just keep in mind she's slow without haste and her 2/2 stats are vulnerable to removal.

Subtype: Dinosaurs

There's some debate over the best dino commander but I favor Pant for his immediate effect plus ongoing support, letting you once per turn discover X when a dino enters where X is that dino's toughness. He'll trigger off himself, letting you cast or add to hand the next spell in your deck of cost four or less, and playing additional dinosaurs on future turns will reuse the effect.

Subtype: Warriors

Najeela only needs red to cast but her effect accesses all colors, always a neat option to include or exclude as many spells beyond red as you like. She only takes three to play and creates an attacking 1/1 warrior whenever your warrior attacks, snowballing quickly if left unchecked, and she can pay one of every color for an extra combat phase and untap plus trample, lifelink, and haste.

Plus, Magic loves using this card for crossovers; check out Najeela as Cloud Strife, Spider-Gwen, or Archaeon the Everchosen.

Subtype: Myr

Here's an interesting commander whose colorless cost lets you quickly pay him with colorless sources like Sol Ring or Ancient Tomb, but utilize anything thanks to a five-color rainbow identity. Urtet creates a 1/1 myr whenever you cast another myr, untaps your myrs at the start of your combat, and can pay one of each color to place three +1/+1s on each.

Subtype: Elves and wolves

Voja needs five mana but offers a fearsome 5/5 with vigilance, trample, and ward three. See if you can get haste with another effect to immediately use his attack trigger, giving each of your creatures a +1/+1 per elf you control and drawing per wolf.

Subtype: Humans and non-humans

Winota's great since she doesn't need to attack to reap her rewards, letting you play a human for free from your deck's top six cards whenever your non-humans attack. You get to do so once for each non-human, quickly amassing the best humans in the game and overwhelming foes with aggro. Exploit this with tokens that create things like 1/1 soldiers or knights—if they don't say human, they'll activate the effect no matter how human the card looks.

Subtype: Elves

Elves have interesting commander options, with this being my favorite unless Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary gets unbanned. Marwyn taps for green equal to her power, which can always be boosted with auras or equipment, but she'll get a +1/+1 whenever your elf enters, soon providing massive sums of resources.

Subtype: Elementals

Omnath comes in many different color options, with this one best-suited for tribal elemental builds. You get the classic three elemental colors, the ability to hit any target equal to the number of elementals you control on entry, and a landfall effect that gives a +1/+1 and draws if you control eight or more lands.

Subtype: Angels

Giada gave angels a much-needed speed boost thanks to her low cost of two and ability to tap for white, plus an extra +1/+1 to arriving angels for each you already control.

Subtype: Eldrazi

Ulalek's unique cost takes either colorless or colored mana, letting you easily cast him with any source combination. Reaping his rewards takes a lot of mana, but often provides game-changing pushes when achieved, letting you pay two colorless when you cast an eldrazi to copy all spells and abilities you control!

Subtype: Ninja

Like most aggro commanders, Yuriko (Arena players will know her as FF7's Yuffie) works best in smaller commander pods or 1v1 duel commander. Her commander ninjutsu lets you play her tapped and attacking by returning an unblocked attacker to hand, and whenever your ninja deals damage, she adds the top card of your deck to hand and has opponents lose life equal to its mana value.

Bonus cards are always nice, and with some luck, you can drain as much as eleven cards by finding spells such as Temporal Trespass.

Subtype: Shrines

Some shrines are just enchantments while others are enchantment creatures; either way, they power up based on the number of shrines you control. Go-Shintai accelerates this by creating a 1/1 shrine whenever one enters, and it can tap and spend one of each color to return any enchantment from your graveyard to the field.

Subtype: Merfolk

We have many prime contenders for best legendary merfolk, but Hakbai offers the two colors you want plus a field-wide explore at the start of combat for each merfolk you control! Every explore reveals your deck's top card and adds it to hand if a land or gives a +1/+1 if not, and Hakbal also plays an extra land or draws when he attacks.

Subtype: Spirits

Kykar's more of a non-creature based commander, creating a 1/1 spirit whenever you cast a non-creature spell. And he can sacrifice your spirits to add a red mana, helping keep resources open for counterspells or removal on opposing turns. And casting those spells will generate additional spirits, fueling the loop.

Subtype: Dwarves

Magda creates a token whenever your dwarf (including herself) is tapped, and at just two mana, she gets going fast, especially with crew effects from vehicles or mounts. Treasure can be sacrificed for extra mana, but if you get to five, Magda can trade them for a free dragon or artifact from deck, often winning the game by snatching a game-changer like Portal to Phyrexia.

Subtype: Wizards

Here's another eminence commander you may never need to cast; you're mostly after the always-active command zone effect of paying an extra mana when a wizard enters to create a token copy of it. The copy is exiled at the end step, but it has haste and lets you easily duplicate tap or entrance abilities.

Subtype: Squirrels

Chatterfang gives access to both green and black mana and can't be blocked by opponents who control a forest, but mostly you want to exploit his extra 1/1 squirrel with any token-creating effect. With the right setup, this quickly goes infinite and can win games before opponents realize what hit them.

Subtype: Zombies

Despite not being a zombie itself, The Scarab God is simply a powerful card, scrying X and stealing X life from opponents at your upkeep, where X is the number of zombies you control. That's not bad, but Scarab's coolest effect pays four to instantly exile a creature from your graveyard for a 4/4 zombie copy of it. And if Scarab God dies, it returns to your hand at the end step, meaning unless it's exiled, you avoid commander tax with recastings.

Subtype: Vampires

Edgar needs a hefty sum of six mana, but rewards it with a 4/4 with first strike and haste who puts a +1/+1 on each vampire you control when he attacks. And you should have plenty by the time he arrives since he creates a 1/1 vampire whenever you cast one (except himself).

Subtype: Goblins

Goblins have some of the best tribal options in the game, and you can summon hundreds with Krenko, who taps to create a number of 1/1 goblins equal to the number you control, feeding into itself and overwhelming foes fast, especially if you provide them with haste.

Subtype: Assassins

A 3/2 with menace for just two is a great start, plus you only need one color to cast Ezio but gain access to all four. Best of all, he gives your other assassins spells freerunning, letting you cast them for two black if you dealt combat damage to an opponent that turn with an assassin or commander (easy since menace needs two blockers).

Finally, Ezio can pay one of each color when he hits a player who has ten or less life to have them lose the game.

Subtype: Dragons

While dragons come in every color, Ureni accesses perhaps the three most relevant while wielding a devastating effect both on entry and when attacking, playing another dragon for free from your deck's top seven cards. That means by the time Ureni arrives, you've probably got at least two threats to deal with, and if foes don't handle him soon, they'll soon be facing more.

Subtype: Dragons

As much as I love Ureni, it's hard to beat the eminence of the Ur-Dragon, who accesses all colors and discounts your dragons by one just by existing in the command zone. So he'll be helping long before you cast him, but if you manage to amass the nine mana, his field effect lets you draw and play cards for free from hand equal to the number of dragons you attack with.

Subtype: Slivers

Slivers are THE tribal faction in Magic, with each empowering all on the field. They offer many rainbow color commander options, my favorite being The First Sliver. Since it cascades on entry, you get to play another spell even if he's countered, and once he arrives, he gives your other slivers cascade, rapidly swarming the field.

One idea is to pair him with the companion Jegantha, the Wellspring, who restricts your spells to only having one of each mana type but also taps for one of each.

Today we focused on creature-based commanders, but other card types also offer powerful generals. From artifacts leaders like Emry, Lurker of the Loch or Urza, Lord High Artificer to enchantment commanders such as Sythis, Harvest's Hand, there's bound to be a commander out there to support your favorite card type—stay tuned for more articles covering the best of these generals.