Strongest Abzan Commanders In Magic: The Gathering

Summary

• 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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.