Highlights

• Azorius commanders are known for their control potential and are highly effective at countering spells and drawing cards.
• Bruna, Light of Alabaster is an excellent commander for an aura-based 'Voltron' strategy, allowing players to cheat the costs of aura spells.
• Ranar the Ever-Watchful is an Azorius commander that makes great use of the Foretell mechanic, reducing the cost of foretold spells and rewarding players for exiling cards.

Synonymous with control strategies, the blue and white color pairing of Azorius has long been a staple of nearly every format of Magic: The Gathering. Whether you're countering spells, drawing cards, or taxing the rest of a Commander table, few color combinations can match Azorius commanders in the realm of control potential.

In the spirit of Azorius, we're going to talk about the best of the best when it comes to blue and white in Commander. So without further deliberation, we present the best Azorius Commanders in Magic: The Gathering!

Updated on January 22, 2024, by Ryan Hay: Comprised of the true control colors in Magic, white and blue, Azorius has all sorts of tricks up in its slice of the color pie to keep your opponents from executing their gameplan and leaving plenty of room for you to take over the game. Between new releases and fluctuations in popularity among different legendary creatures, some new commanders from recent sets have been added, while others have been trimmed down a bit.

15 Bruna, Light Of Alabaster

Aura's A Plenty

An excellent option for an aura-based 'Voltron' commander, Bruna, Light of Alabaster is an Angel who specializes in circumventing the costs of auras. The ability to reduce and cheat the costs of spells is paramount in Commander, and few commanders can do so with aura spells quite like Bruna.

Upon attacking with Bruna, you are able to put any number of auras onto her from your hand and graveyard. In one attack, Bruna can be suited up with numerous high-costed enchantments with no additional investment of mana. When paired with self-milling abilities that put numerous auras directly into your graveyard, Bruna can have access to many more enchantments than what would otherwise be available.

14 Ranar The Ever-Watchful

I Foretell Your Demise

Printed as the commander of the Phantom Premonition preconstructed deck, Ranar the Ever-Watchful is an Azorius commander that can make great use of the Foretell mechanic as well as exile-based effects. A 2/3 Spirit Warrior with flying and vigilance for four mana, Ranar allows the first card you foretell each turn to be foretold for free.

As the foretell mechanic allows you to exile a card for two mana, allowing it to be cast later in a game for a reduced rate, Ranar reduces the rate of such spells even further. Additionally, Ranar rewards you for foretelling cards and using White's exile-based removal, creating a 1/1 Spirit token with flying whenever you exile a card from your hand or from the battlefield.

13 Heliod, The Radiant Dawn

The Corrupted God

Flip commanders are always a fun challenge to build around. You get one card, but have two versions of them, often times with new abilities and more power on the back, at the cost of a somewhat situational flip condition. Heliod, the Radiant Dawn is a very straightforward commander in this way, costing a fairly cheap four mana to transform him, or three mana and two life, to compleat the poor god, turning him into a twisted, Phyrexianized version of himself.

This Heliod's front side only lets you return a non-God enchantment from your graveyard back to your hand, but once flipped, he gives all your spells flash, a huge upgrade to their casting speed. That's not all though, he also lets you pay one generic less to cast those spells for each card your opponents have drawn this turn. You can even play a pseudo-group hug deck with Heliod, letting your opponents draw cards like Temple Bell, only to cast high-cost sorcery spells at instant speed to punish them.

12 Kwain, Itinerant Meddler

Everyone Wins, Until You Do

One of the most efficient Azorius commanders in the format, Kwain, Itinerant Meddler is a 1/3 Rabbit Wizard printed in Commander Legends. The appeal of Kwain comes in the form of its activated ability, allowing Kwain to be tapped to allow each player to draw a card, gaining one life if they do.

While Kwain can benefit your opponents, a two-mana commander that can draw a card for its controller each turn is quite useful in its own right. Additionally, you can build decks around the beneficial nature of this ability, allowing Kwain to serve as an effective commander option for an Azorius group hug deck.

11 Will, Scion Of Peace

Negotiations Broke Down

If you want to cast spells with a massive mana commitment but want a cheap way to cheat them out, look no further than Will, Scion of Peace. This Wilds of Eldraine commander sees the former planeswalker growing up a bit and leading his people in times of turmoil. He does so by reward your life gain with cheaper spells.

When you tap Will, you get to reduce your white and blue spells by X generic mana, with X equalling the amount of life you've gained this turn. You can only activate this ability at sorcery speed, which is a bit of a bummer. The nice part of Will is that he reduces the cost of spells with X in their casting cost too, letting you commit extra mana to those spells without actually having to have the mana for it.

10 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade

Done By The Books

A very powerful and effective action to be performed in Commander is to reduce spells and cheat out cards for little to no mana. In any game of Commander, it's often expected to see huge threats produced for free due to the abilities of respective commanders and other cards.

For only two mana, Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is a commander that restricts cost reduction and manipulation of opponents. Lavinia prevents opponents from playing noncreature spells with converted mana costs greater than the number of lands that player controls, essentially shutting off high value mana manipulation entirely. As if this weren't enough, if a card cast by an opponent would be cast without paying any mana, Lavinia immediately counters that spell outright.

9 Millicent, Restless Revenant

Top Pick For Spirits

Millicent, Restless Revenant is by and large the best single creature type commander within the Azorius color identity, serving as an incredible option for a Spirit commander. While this steep mana cost may be off-putting at first glance, Millicent's mana cost is reduced by one for each Spirit under your control, meaning it can be played for as low as two mana.

Once in play, Millicent can create 1/1 Spirit tokens with flying at a rapid pace, creating a token whenever a nontoken Spirit under your control dies or deals combat damage to a player. As Millicent can create a massive volume of Spirit tokens, even if it's removed from play, it can be reliably re-cast due to its aforementioned cost reduction ability.

8 Brago, King Eternal

The Flicker King

One of the most popular options for an Azorius commander is Brago, King Eternal. Upon dealing combat damage to a player, Brago allows you to flicker or blink any amount of nonland permanents you control, exiling them, then immediately returning them to the battlefield.

This allows Brago decks to reap incredible amounts of value from enter the battlefield abilities of your permanents, as these usually one time abilities can be repeated on numerous occasions over the course of a game. There are many cards, such as Cloud of Faeries and Peregrine Drake, that untap multiple lands upon entering the battlefield, meaning that these cards can be used repeatedly as a form of mana ramp.

7 Elminster

This Planeswalker Can See The Future

Elminster is a powerful commander option printed within Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate, serving as a Planeswalker that can be used as your commander. Based around scrying and casting high value instants and sorceries, Elminster's static ability reduces the mana cost of the next instant or sorcery you would cast by the number of cards you looked at the last time you scried. This works out quite well, as Elminster's +2 allows you top draw a card and scry two, reliably allowing access to this cost reduction.

Once you've scried, Elminster is adept at allowing you to make the most out of the cards you've placed atop your library. This is because Elminster's -3 ability allows you to exile the top card of your library, creating a number of 1/1 flying Faerie Dragon tokens equal to the exiled card's mana value. This means that through scrying, you can ensure the top card of your library has a sizable mana cost in order to receive the most optimal number of Faerie Dragons. Few Planeswalkers possess as cohesive a suite of abilities as Elminster, making it an excellent commander option.

6 Tameshi, Reality Architect

Nothing Stays Gone Forever

Tameshi is a great commander for anyone who's interested in the prominent bounce theme among the Azorius color pair. Bouncing is a term that refers to returning a permanent from play to its owner's hand. Tameshi provides an added incentive for playing bounce spells as she allows you to draw a card once per turn as long as something is bounced.

On top of that, Tameshi can also be used to return both artifacts and enchantments from your graveyard to the battlefield. While reanimation effects are normally reserved only for creatures, this commander allows you to bend the rules a bit and craft a distinctly different reanimation strategy.

5 Urza, Lord Protector

The Original Planeswalker

Urza, Lord Protector is an impressive artifact based commander that can notably meld into a highly impactful Planeswalker when paired with the artifact, The Mightstone and Weakstone. When not melded, this three-mana creature offers comparable value to Stenn, reducing the cost of instants, sorceries, and artifacts you cast by one mana. Though this is already quite solid, if you pay seven mana while you control The Mightstone and Weakstone, you gain access to one of the most powerful Planeswalkers in Magic's history.

With five activated abilities, Urza can activate its abilities twice per turn rather than just once. This offers a flexible array of benefits, such as additional cost reduction, token generation, card draw, and removal, allowing it to function as one of the most multifarious commanders in all of Magic. As Azorius decks have access to a wide range of artifact tutoring effects that can allow you to ensure you access The Mightstone and Weakstone, it's safe to say that Urza is an amazing Azorius option for an artifact-based Commander.

4 Hylda Of The Icy Crown

Freeze The Board

Normally, decks built around tapping the board turn after turn can be a bit of a slog to play, but with Hylda of the Icy Crown, you have a fair bit more interaction with what happens when you tap stuff down. Anytime you tap down an opponent's creature, you get to pay one mana, picking one of three modes to trigger when you do. You can either make a 4/4 Elemental token, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control, or scry 2 and then draw one card.

This style of deck is very mana intensive, and require a fair amount of board control through artifacts and enchantments to keep tapping down your opponent's creatures. Once you get going, you'll have all the resources in the world to keep yourself safe in your icy domain.

3 Zethi, Arcane Blademaster

Don't Stop Kicking

Zethi is an ideal commander for a spells matter deck where you seek to gain bonuses from casting noncreature spells. If you prefer casting instants and sorceries to creatures, you will find the Arcane Blademaster quite amenable to these desires thanks to her ability that allows you to cast these spells again and again.

Alongside some protection, bounce, and counter spells, Zethi makes for a machine gun spell engine that will see you popping off three or more noncreature spells a turn. It's also supremely helpful that since Zethi is your commander, you can kick even more instants from your graveyard into her available spells each time you cast her. No doubt, you're bound to go off eventually.

2 Shorikai, Genesis Engine

It's A Vehicle, Who Can Be Your Commander

Shorikai, Genesis Engine has the unique distinction of being the only noncreature artifact capable of being your commander. While Shorikai can hypothetically assume the form of an 8/8 if its crew cost of eight is paid, its status as a noncreature artifact makes it particularly difficult for many decks to remove.

Once in play, the most powerful element of Shorikai is its activated ability that, for one mana, taps Shorikai, allowing you to draw two cards, discard a card, and create a 1/1 Pilot token that can effectively crew Vehicles as though it had a power of four. Shorikai allows you to quickly dig through your deck for key cards, and it provides consistent access to relevant pilot tokens too. Not only do these tokens make for excellent sacrifice fodder for the likes of Skullclamp and Ashnod's Altar, but they also allow Shorikai decks to make the most out of powerful Vehicle cards due to consistent access to creatures adept at crewing.

With these factors in mind, Shorikai is a Commander that simultaneously synergizes with various types of abilities such as those that trigger whenever you draw a card, and effects that specifically synergize with a high concentration of Vehicles.

1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV

Tax Them To Oblivion

Grand Arbiter Augustine IV is an example of a commander who makes the game fun for you but miserable for your opponents. Possessing three abilities that are all similar in nature, the Grand Arbiter reduces the costs of blue spells cast by you by one, as well as reducing the costs of white spells cast by you by one. Stacked, this means that potent spells that are simultaneously blue and white have their costs reduced by two mana.

While these two lines of text would be powerful in themselves, the real salt produced by Grand Arbiter Augustin IV comes from its last ability, which increases the cost of all spells cast by opponents by one. When paired together, these abilities shift the tempo of a game into the Grand Arbiter player's favor to an absurd degree, inadvertently foiling plans and slowing down other players while accelerating your own plays.