Highlights
- Abzan commanders offer a variety of playstyles, synergizing with graveyards, counters, and enchantments.
- Unique Abzan commanders like Nikara and Yannik, Colfenor, and Anafenza provide versatile strategies and niche roles.
- Other notable Abzan commanders include Kathril, Doran, Kethis, Ghave, Nethroi, Ixhel, Frodo, Bilbo, Narci, Anikthea, Thalia and the Gitrog Monster, Myrkul, and Tayam.
In Magic: The Gathering's popular Commander format, decks come in all shapes and sizes, with a deck's strategy influenced by a player's choice of commander and that card's color identity. As a Commander deck can only include cards within the chosen commander's color identity, the more colors within a commander's identity, the more options a player has when constructing their deck.
As far as three-color combinations are concerned, Abzan, the identity of black, green, and white is quite multifarious, synergizing with everything from graveyards to counters. Despite holding common themes not all Abzan commanders are the same, each one with a niche to fill. Those legendary creatures that can fill multiple roles find themselves among the best Abzan have to offer.
Updated August 15, 2023, by Ryan Hay: Good Abzan commander keep on coming. Since this list was last updated several sets have been released, bringing a powerful partner duo and two Abzan enchantress options for deck builders to experiment with. From The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth we get the unbreakable bond between Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit and his bestie for life, Sam, Loyal Attendant, as well as Frodo's quirky uncle, Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant. The immensely powerful Commander Masters Preconstructed decks brought another two commanders to the game, Narci, Fable Singer, and Anikthea, Hand of Erebos, both of which let you take new approaches to traditional Enchantress play styles.
17 Nikara, Lair Scavenger, And Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel
Nikara, Lair Scavenger, and Yannik, Scavenging Sentinel are Mono-Black and Selesnya creatures respectively that have the partner ability, allowing them to be played together as an Abzan commander. Nikara is a 2/2 with menace for three mana that lets you draw a card and lose one life if a creature with at least one counter on it under your control leaves the battlefield, Yannik, meanwhile, provides a means of triggering this effect.
Upon entering the battlefield, Yannik can exile a creature for as long as it remains in play, distributing an amount of +1/+1 counters equal to the exiled creature's power among creatures under your control. This allows the pair to synergize with counter-based synergies and flickering effects alike.
16 Colfenor, The Last Yew
Printed in Commander Legends, Colfenor, the Last Yew is a graveyard-based commander that works well with creatures with high toughness. A 3/7 Treefolk Shaman with vigilance and reach for six mana, whenever Colfenor or another creature under your control dies, you can return a creature from your graveyard to your hand as long as the returned card has lesser toughness.
When paired with high-impact enter battlefield abilities that trigger when creatures die, you can chain effects for your benefit. With very little setup on the board, you can create loops to continuously return creatures like Hangarback Walker back to play by sacrificing it to Ashnod's Altar for infinite mana and dies triggers.
15 Anafenza, The Foremost
While Anafenza, the Foremost may not seem like much at first glance, it's an efficient commander that can make a notable impact on a game. A 4/4 for three mana, upon attacking, Anafenza can put a +1/+1 counter on another tapped creature, so you don't have to target an attacking creature either, it just has to be a tapped one.
This provides consistent counter-generation, synergizing with a myriad of cards. Additionally, Anafenza notably states that if a creature would be put in an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, it's exiled instead. As graveyard strategies are immensely popular within Commander, this can throw a wrench into the plans of countless decks.
14 Kathril, Aspect Warper
A unique Abzan commander, Kathril, Aspect Warper makes use of a variety of mechanics including +1/+1 counters, ability counters, and graveyard synergies. Kathril is a 3/3 Nightmare Insect for five mana with a deep well of potential. Upon entering the battlefield, Kathril can put several types of ability counters for the keywords, flying, first strike, double strike, deathtouch, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, reach, trample, and vigilance on creatures under your control as long as creatures in your graveyard have the corresponding keywords on them.
This incentivizes the use of self-milling abilities as well as creatures with a litany of keywords, and once these ability counters have been put on creatures, Kathril gets that many +1/+1 counters, allowing it to serve as a noteworthy threat in its own right. If you're able to flicker Kathril a few times, you can spread those ability counters across all creatures you control.
13 Doran, The Siege Tower
One of the premier commander options for toughness-based decks, Doran, the Siege Tower is simple yet potent. A 0/5 Treefolk Shaman for three mana, Doran states that each creature assigns combat damage via their toughness rather than their power.
This not only allows Doran to effectively function as a three-mana 5/5, but it also allows a player to build a deck that takes advantage of low-mana creatures with terrible power but high toughness. As this effect is universal, it can also frequently mess with your opponent's causing their high-power, low-toughness creatures to deal pitiful damage.
12 Kethis, The Hidden Hand
Kethis, the Hidden Hand is a perfect commander option for those looking to build a deck that incorporates a multitude of legendary cards, whether they be creatures, Planeswalkers, or other types of permanents. A 3/4 for four mana, Kethis reduces the cost of legendary spells you cast by one mana, effectively functioning as a mana ramp in a deck with enough legendary spells.
As if ramping out legendary spells wasn't enough, Kethis lets you cast legendary spells from your graveyard. By exiling two other legendary cards from your graveyard, all your other legendary spells in your graveyard can be cast for their original mana values.
11 Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Karador, Ghost Chieftain is an excellent option for a graveyard-based deck, and while this 3/4 costs a sizable eight mana, it costs one less for each creature in your graveyard, allowing it to be consistently cast for very little mana. Karador's ability allows it to even get around its commander tax if it's been destroyed a few times since you first cast it.
Once in play, Karador allows you to play a creature from their graveyard once per turn. When paired with sizable amounts of self-mill this essentially allows a player to treat their graveyard as a second hand.
10 Ghave, Guru Of Spores
When it comes to adding counters to your creatures, it's hard to beat Ghave, Guru of Spores. For five mana, this 0/0 Fungus Shaman enters the battlefield with five +1/+1 counters on it. While a 5/5 for five mana isn't much at first glance, Ghave's strength lies in its flexibility.
For one mana, you can remove a +1/+1 counter from it to create a 1/1 green Saproling token, and you can also spend that one mana to sacrifice a creature and put a counter on Ghave.
This allows a player to adapt to situations, sacrificing creatures to grow Ghave when needed, then converting this commander into an army to close out a game with finishers like Craterhoof Behemoth. When paired with counter or token doublers like Doubling Season, the value Ghave can produce is quite incredible.
9 Nethroi, Apex Of Death
One of the strongest graveyard-based options in Commander, Nethroi, Apex of Death is capable of cheating several cards out of its controller's graveyard via its mutate ability. A 5/5 with deathtouch and lifelink for five mana, Nethroi has a mutate cost of seven mana.
This is important, as whenever Nethroi mutates, its controller can return any number of creatures from their graveyard to play as long as their total toughness is ten or less. This can be used to recur several small utility creatures at once, and this effect can even be used repeatedly through the use of additional mutate creatures. Few graveyard commanders can return as many creatures from the graveyard at once as Nethroi.
8 Ixhel, Scion Of Atraxa
Shifting focus away from graveyard strategies comes Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa. Ixhel comes built-in with an alternate win condition, allowing you to poison out an opponent with its toxic 2 ability, and once a player hits ten poison counters, they're automatically out of the game, making it, so you only have to connect with a player five times to completely poison them out.
Even if you are all in on the poison counter plan, Ixhel gives you a way to play your opponent's spells so long as they have three or more counters on them. Once they do, you get to exile the top card of their library and play those cards as long as they're exiled. Spreading poison counters to each of your opponents might feel difficult to do at first, but the payoff for doing so is huge.
7 Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit // Sam, Loyal Attendant
The two Hobbit friends forever come together to make a Food token-based commander duo with a powerful built-in life gain and card draw engine to help you take control of the battlefield. Sam produces a Food token at the start of your combat step on your turn while also reducing the cost of sacrificing a Food token by one. Frodo then gets to work, where if you've gained three or more life this turn when he goes to attack, you are tempted by the ring. If Frodo is your Ring-bearer, and you've been tempted twice or more, you get to draw a card.
The two work well with all sorts of life gain strategies as well, punishing your opponents with cards like Sanguine Bond, forcing them to lose life when you gain it. Since you're creating tokens, why not make even more with cards like Doubling Season and Mondrak, Glory Dominus to spam the board with all of Sam's tasty cooking?
6 Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant
It's a party and everyone is invited, whether your opponents wanted them to come or not when Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant is your commander. Gaining life with Bilbo is easy, every time you gain life, you gain one more instead. Ride this life gain all the way to 111 life (Bilbo's age when he disappears from the Shire) and you'll have a grand time. Once you hit 111 life, you can pay five mana, tap and then exile Bilbo to grab as many creatures as you want from your deck and put them directly into play.
Playing this version of Bilbo all but guarantees to put a target on your back, none of your opponents will let you get close to 111 life, but if you play defensively, or have a way to gain infinite life very quickly through any number of combos in Abzan, you can start celebrating early.
5 Narci, Fable Singer
A four-mana reverse Enchantress commander, Narci, Fable Singer turns your sacrificed enchantments into drawing cards as opposed to drawing cards when those enchantments come into play. Narci works best with Sagas, with her second ability draining your opponents of life when the final chapter of a Saga you control resolves, helping to sustain you in life in the face of more aggressive decks and bring your opponents closer to losing.
Playing other effects that let you draw a card when an enchantment comes into play, cards like Enchantress's Presence and Eidolon of Blossoms ensures that you're drawing tons of cards with every enchantment you play. Then it's simply a matter of playing enchantments with sacrifice effects and plenty of Sagas.
One of the best top-end cards for this deck is Eerie Ultimatum, which returns any number of permanents with different names from your graveyard to the battlefield, letting you recycle all those spent enchantments one more time.
4 Anikthea, Hand Of Erebos
All the way from Theros comes Anikthea, Hand of Erebos to give your enchantments a second life as a Zombie, so maybe it's more like a second un-life. When Anikthea enters the battlefield or attacks, you get to exile a non-Aura enchantment from your graveyard, creating a copy of that card and turning it into a 3/3 Zombie creature with all the same abilities as the original.
At the same time, Anikthea gives your enchantment creatures menace, making them harder to block.
Anikthea lets you recycle your enchantments, turning them into threats that need to be answered before they swarm over the battlefield. You have to be careful about which enchantments you exile though, since you will permanently lose access to them once they're in exile.
In the face of oblivion, one of the best enchantments to play with Anikthea is Song of the Worldsoul, an enchantment that lets you populate, or create a copy of a token you control every time you cast a spell.
3 Thalia And The Gitrog Monster
Stax decks can branch out to new, but restrictive, heights with Thalia and the Gitrog Monster. Combining the best of the two legendary creatures, this commander has all your opponent's creatures and nonbasic lands enter the battlefield tapped, slowing your opponent down a turn or two once it's in play.
Then, when Thalia and the Gitrog Monster attacks you can sacrifice a creature or a land to draw a card, fueling all sorts of death triggers.
Even though Thalia and the Gitrog Monster doesn't have amazing stats, it does come loaded with both first strike and deathtouch, making it a deadly blocker and letting it push through difficult board states.
Even if you aren't attacking often with these two, you'll be able to throw up an iron wall against incoming attacks.
2 Myrkul, Lord Of Bones
A God creature straight from Faerûn, Myrkul, Lord of Bones is a staggeringly powerful commander that takes very little setup to get going. Despite costing seven mana, Myrkul rewards its late arrival to the game by giving itself indestructible when your life is less than or equal to half your starting amount.
Once in play, Myrkul exiles creatures you control when they die and turns them into token copies of the card that keep all their abilities but are enchantments instead of creatures.
There are plenty of combos that can take advantage of Myrkul's unique ability, with the easiest being a Devoted Druid. Once it is turned into an enchantment, you can create infinite mana with just two cards.
1 Tayam, Luminous Enigma
A deceptively potent commander, Tayam, Luminous Enigma causes each creature under your control to enter the battlefield with a vigilance counter. A solid ability on its own, both in terms of attack and defense, Tayam can turn all your counters into a free reanimation spell.
For three mana, you can remove three counters of any kind from creatures under its owner's control, milling you three cards, then returning any permanent with a mana value of three or less to play.
This flexible ability not only provides a reliable means of removing detrimental counters such as -1/-1 counters from your creatures but also provides a card advantage, even allowing lands to be returned from the graveyard to play.