Magic: The Gathering's Commander format is rife with a massive range of deck archetypes, allowing players to build highly personalized decks from a staggeringly large pool of legal cards. While the Commander format supports a sizable number of viable strategies, staple archetypes such as Control are just as powerful in Commander as they are in formats like Modern or Legacy.

Rather than aiming to take out opponents as quickly as possible, Control decks aim to "control" the board, depriving opponents of key resources through removal and counter spells, preventing opponents from assembling their win-conditions while assembling a win-condition of your own. As Control decks come in a wide variety of forms within a wide range of color identities, we're going to examine the strongest Control options available in the Commander format.

Updated September 28, 2023, by Ryan Hay: You can't go wrong with a good control deck, mostly because you're too busy making everyone else's game go wrong. Despite being at a distinct disadvantage since you're up against three other players instead of just one, control-style decks have picked up a few tricks to keep the game to your advantage. Three legendary creatures join this growing list, the larger-than-life Urza, Lord Protector, a companion in the form of Yorion, Sky Nomad, and the frozen Hylda of the Icy Crown.

15 Rashmi, Eternities Crafter

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One of the best control commanders around is Rashmi, Eternities Crafter. This Elf Druid lets you reveal the top card of your library after you cast your first spell each turn. So long as the revealed card has a mana value less than the spell you cast, you can cast it for free. If you can't cast it this way, or it's a land, you put that card into your hand.

No matter what you cast, there will always be value with Rashmi out in play. Keeping a counter spell up for your opponent's commander means you've not only disrupted their plans, but you can either cast something else for free or add a card to your hand. You'll want a number of cards to manipulate the top card of your library in some way, like Sensei's Divining Top or Scroll Rack, so you can have some measure of control over what card will appear on the top of your deck.Kess, Dissident Mage

13 Yorion, Sky Nomad

An incredibly versatile commander, Yorion cares about one thing only, enter the battlefield triggers. When Yorion comes into play, you can pick and choose any number of other nonland permanents you own and control, exiling them and then bringing them back at the beginning of the next end step.

So long as you're playing with a bunch of cards with good enter-the-battlefield triggers, like Skyclave Apparition, Agent of Treachery, and Deadeye Navigator, you can rinse and repeat until you've taken over the game.

The slightly confusing thing with Yorion is that it cannot be used as a companion to your deck. It can only be the commander, since your Commander deck has to be exactly 99 cards (100 with the commander), while Yorion requires your deck to have 20 more cards than the minimum to be the companion. That's not a problem though, since Yorion gives you plenty of power as your commander instead.

12 Kess, Dissident Mage

As a Grixis (black, blue, and red) commander, Kess, Dissident Mage is already primed to be a great control Commander due to having access to many of the best counterspells and removal options ever printed. A flying Human Wizard for four mana, Kess states that once during each of your turns, you can cast an instant or sorcery from your graveyard, effectively providing each spell of these types with flashback.

This means that each of your powerful control spells can do double duty, being castable twice per game, significantly improving their consistency as well as your flexibility when choosing which spells to cast. Because of that, Kess decks will nearly never run out of gas, consistently maintaining the ability to control the board.

11 Toxrill, The Corrosive

Toxrill, the Corrosive is an incredibly powerful and self-sustaining Dimir (black and blue) commander that can be made all the more dangerous when backed up by an entire control deck. For the cost of seven mana, this Slug Horror states that at the beginning of each player's upkeep, a slime counter is put on each creature you don't control, with each creature getting -1/-1 for each slime counter on it.

Not only can this quickly cause your opponent's creatures to evaporate, but whenever a creature with a slime counter on it dies, you also create a 1/1 slug token. When pairing the overwhelming number of powerful Dimir control staples and counter spells with the board-wiping potential that Toxrill already provides, this commander can be a nightmare to deal with.

10 Hylda Of The Icy Crown

You can't deny the power of the ice when Hylda of the Icy Crown comes around. Anytime you tap down an untapped creature one of your opponents control, you can pay one mana.

If you do, you get to pick one of three things to do. You can make a 4/4 Elemental creature token, you can pump your whole board by putting a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control, or you can scry 2 cards and then draw one.

With all sorts of ways to tap down creatures, with cards like Sleep, Opposition, and Timin, Youthful Geist; you have a plethora of cards to not only lock down your opponents, but to provide tons of board presence and card advantage over the course of the game.

9 Niv-Mizzet, Parun

A stellar commander option for anyone looking to construct an Izzet (blue and red) control deck, Niv-Mizzet is a card that allows you to reliably deal with your opponents' threats while keeping your hand full of answers. For six mana, this 5/5 uncounterable flying Dragon Wizard has a deadly combo of abilities, allowing you to deal one damage to any target whenever you draw a card while drawing you a card whenever you cast an instant or sorcery.

This means that by countering spells and removing troublesome permanents, you inherently draw additional cards, providing additional spells to cast while also providing flexible damage that can potentially be used to remove even more creatures and Planeswalkers from the battlefield.

8 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV

Though notoriously salt-inducing, it's hard to argue with the results Grand Arbiter Augustin IV can garner when helming an Aziorius (blue and white) Commander deck. While Azorius is already a color combination known for its strength in controlling the flow of a game due to its access to counter spells, card draw, great removal, and board wipes, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV brings the archetype up a notch.

In addition to taxing each of your opponents' spells by one mana, slowing them down significantly, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV provides you with a significant mana discount on your blue and white spells, respectively, providing an even greater cost reduction to Azorius spells. This means that while your opponents will struggle to keep up with your tempo, you can build up your resources and control the state of the board more efficiently than ever.

7 Talrand, Sky Summoner

Sometimes your commander will just let you sit back and relax a little while it pumps out an army of Drakes all on its own. Talrand, Sky Summoner creates a 2/2 Drake creature token with flying for every instant and sorcery spell you cast. This type of passive ability lets you play a draw-go style deck, with plenty of instant speed draw and counter spells to cast just before the end of your last opponent's turn or in response to a particularly annoying spell you don't want to resolve.

Often, Talrand decks win off some combo, like creating infinite loops of casting the same few spells over and over again until you win the game through either an overwhelming board state or by locking your opponents out of the game. An easy combo for infinite Drakes is a common one, using Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal to continuously cast Dramatic Reversal over and over again.

6 Sen Triplets

The best type of control deck lets you keep all your cards while slowly draining your opponent's resources. Sen Triplets lets you cast all your opponent's cards during your turn. At the start of your turn, you choose an opponent, and for the rest of the turn, they can't cast spells or activate abilities while you get to play lands and cast their spells.

A supremely oppressive ability, Sen Triplets put a massive target on your back since no one wants to lose their cards. If you can keep Sen Triplets around for a turn or two, you can rip apart your opponent's hands while keeping your cards back for protection. Combine Sen Triplets with cards like Sakashima the Impostor to copy it despite being legendary. Paradox Haze gives you multiple upkeep phases to lock more of your opponents out of the game.

5 Urza, Lord Protector

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The sheer power behind Urza, Lord Protector cannot be understated, though it might take some time to get there. Starting off, Urza, Lord Protector reduces the cost of your artifacts, instants, and sorcery spells by one generic mana when you cast them.

Suddenly all your three mana counterspells that might be a little too slow or cumbersome to cast are a little easier to help control the game.

If the game goes your way, and you're able to assemble both pieces to the Urza puzzle, you can flip him into Urza, Planeswalker, one of the most powerful cards ever printed. Once in play, you can activate his planeswalker abilities twice a turn instead of the usual one, and if you're running cards like The Chain Veil, you can activate him up to three times, giving you an absurd amount of potential power.

3 Baral, Chief Of Compliance

For those looking to play a reactive mono-blue Control deck, Baral, Chief of Compliance may be the commander for you. For the low cost of two mana, this Human Wizard has the straightforward benefit of reducing the costs of all instants and sorceries you cast by one mana. Not only does this allow you to more efficiently respond to your opponents' spells with counterspells and other powerful instants, but Baral also states that whenever you counter a spell, you may also draw a card and discard a card.

As long as you're consistently countering spells, something that many mono-blue control decks want to do anyway, you can dig through your deck to ensure each card in your hand is useful while discarding any unneeded cards.

2 Shorikai, Genesis Engine

A truly unique commander, Shorikai, Genesis Engine is a blue and white vehicle that can also be your commander despite only being a creature when crewed by creatures with a combined power of eight or more. But honestly, none of that matters since you can easily control the board through its powerful ability.

For just one mana, you can tap Shorikai to draw two cards and then discard one, and at the same time, you create a 1/1 Pilot token. Once you have Shorikai out, you can sit back and watch as your deck runs itself with any number of combos or stax pieces to keep the board under control. A common combo found in Shorikai decks involves Intruder Alarm and some sort of mana generator like Ashnod's Altar. With these three cards out, you can loop triggers, continuously untapping Shorikai so long as it's a creature and drawing all the cards in your deck.

1 Hinata, Dawn-Crowned

Hinata, Dawn-Crowned is an excellent Jeskai (blue, red, and white) Control commander that reduces the cost of many of your spells while taxing your opposing control players. A 4/4 with flying and trample for four mana, Hinata reduces the mana cost of each spell you cast by one mana for each of that spell's targets while taxing your opponents' spells by an amount of mana equal to the spell's targets.

This means even single-target removal spells and countermagic you utilize will be cheaper and easier to cast, while multi-target spells will grow even more applicable. This pairs in powerful fashion with Hinata's color identity, as Jeskai provides access to the great counterspells of blue and the potent removal of red and white, allowing each of such spells to be discounted, all while you casually tax your opponents in the process.

Next: Magic: The Gathering – The Best Boros Commanders