Command and conquer with these legendary beings.
Brawl is a format where you play a singleton deck made from cards in Standard along with a legendary creature or planeswalker commander. There are hundreds to choose from, so deciding which ones to play can be hard especially if you're new to the format. Check out this list to learn about the ten best Brawl commanders right now.
10. Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
Korvold is a Jund (black/red/green) commander that fits in a sacrifice-oriented deck. He's five-mana 4/4 flying dragon with two abilities that go hand in hand. First, he makes you sacrifice a permanent when he enters the battlefield (ETB) or attacks. Second, he gets a +1/+1 counter and you draw a card whenever you sacrifice a permanent.
What is OP About Korvold:
- He is self-sufficient because you can feed him lands if there's nothing else to sacrifice. In comparison, commanders like Erebos do nothing when you don't have other creatures.
- Korvold's abilities trigger both on ETB and attack. That's a powerful combination as shown by Prime Time back in the day and Uro in today’s Standard.
- Even without sacrifice shenanigans, some decks are not equipped to handle a big flier that can be recast from the command zone.
- He upgrades steal effects into removal spells that’s effective even against indestructible creatures.
- His Jund color-identity gives you access to creatures and spells that have the best synergy with his sacrifice ability.
9. Nethroi, Apex of Death
Nethroi is an excellent commander for a value-oriented deck that utilizes the graveyard. It can mutate on a non-human creature to combine abilities and get better stats. Nethroi's Mutate trigger lets you bring back any number of creatures with up to 10 power in total.
What is OP About Nethroi:
- You don't get blown out when your opponent kills the creature you're trying to mutate on. By himself, he has five mana 5/5 with two very relevant abilities against creature decks in Deathtouch and Lifelink.
- Mutate is a powerful ability that lets you make creative plays. An example is mutating onto a Polukranos, so you have a Deathtouch and Lifelink mutant that can fight and kill your opponent's creatures.
- The power limit of 10 for his mutate ability is not a drawback. It lets you bring back zero power creatures for free like the Polukranos, Gilded Goose and Faeburrow Elder.
- It grows more powerful as the game goes longer. As you continue to get more creatures in your graveyard, you have more options on what to bring back.
- Nethroi has both black and green color identity. These are the two best colors at filling up your graveyard.
8. Narset of the Ancient Way
Narset is the first Jeskai (blue/red/white) planeswalker with abilities that are a perfect fit her color identity. Her +1 ability adds one mana for non-creature spells and gives you two life. Her -2 lets you draw a card then choose to discard if you want to deal damage. The ultimate grants you an emblem that adds two damage to any target each time you cast a non-creature spell.
What is OP About Narset:
- She provides ramp for non-creature spells. By and large, Jeskai doesn't have a way to do that outside of artifacts.
- The incidental life gain from her +1 ability makes it hard for aggressive decks to close out the game before you can stabilize.
- Her -2 provides card advantage in two ways. You have the option to keep the card you drew or convert one of your dead cards into damage based on casting cost that can hit creatures or planeswalkers.
- It only takes three turns to ultimate Narset. A control-oriented build will have no problem defending Narset until she can use it.
- You gain a huge advantage once you have the emblem from her ultimate. Adding two damage to each of your non-creature spells will prevent your opponent from maintaining any board presence.
7. Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
Torbran is a dream come true for any red aggro deck. His static ability lets him add an extra two points on top of any damage made by your red cards. He can come down on turn four when you should have several creatures on the battlefield that can use the damage boost.
What is OP About Torbran:
- If you're looking to finish games fast, Torbran is your man (dwarf). Brawl matches are usually grindy but he can end games fast.
- He amplifies damage from all sources. It doesn't matter if it's combat damage from creatures or burn spells, Torbran adds two to them.
- Torbran's ability applies to himself. In practice, he's a 4/4 creature for four mana which is more useful than a similar card like The Flame of Keld.
- He affects the board right away. As soon as he's on the battlefield, your creatures and burn spells are far more threatening.
- His ability becomes even better when you can spread out the damage. Blazing Volley lets you Lightning Bolt all your opponent's creatures for one mana.
6. Ashiok, Nightmare Muse
Ashiok is a solid choice for non-aggro Dimir decks or ones that focus on exiling your opponent's cards. Their +1 and -3 ability provide defense against creatures and threatening nonland permanents. Ashiok's ultimate lets you cast three of your opponent's exiled cards for free.
What is OP About Ashiok:
- Ashiok is defense and win-condition in one package. Their +1 and -3 abilities guarantee that you'll have something to cast with Ashiok's ultimate.
- It only takes three to turns to ultimate Ashiok. The fact that their +1 creates a blocker that also exiles stuff means that it's even easier.
- You’re not restricted to a particular deck theme when you play Ashiok. This is an advantage compared to other commanders like Calix, Destiny's Hand.
- Ashiok and their nightmare token's ability to exile things can take away an opponent's gameplan. Decks like Uro self-mill that rely on Thassa's Oracle to win won't have a way to get it back once it’s exiled.
- You get a lot more mileage out of graveyard exile effects. Even if the opponent doesn't use their graveyards, Ashiok's ultimate can use those exiled cards as potential win conditions.
5. Radha, Heart of Keld
Radha is a versatile commander that fits both aggressive and ramp strategies. Her static ability lets you look at the top cards of your library and play them if they're lands. She also has First Strike and a pump ability that corresponds to the number of lands you control.
What is OP About Radha:
- She has several viable builds that have different answers. This forces your opponents to hedge their draws when deciding to mulligan.
- Getting a free look at the top of your library lets you make the best decisions for the turn. There's also zero drawbacks to it compared to other cards that reveal the top card of your library so your opponent can also see what's coming.
- Playing a land from the top of your library is as good as drawing a card. You're also almost guaranteed to always draw spells if you combine her with Azusa or Dryad of the Ilysian Grove.
- Her pump ability makes her a massive threat that scales as you continue to play more lands. Not even Deathtouch creatures can trade with her because she has First Strike.
- Effects that can give her trample like Garruk, Unleashed's +1 ability make her very lethal. It's not unusual to see Radha trample over blockers and take away a big chunk of an opponent's life in one attack.
4. Kenrith, the Returned King
Kenrith is the king of versatility when it comes to Brawl commanders. On the offense, he can grant haste, trample, and +1/+1 to your creatures. For defense, he can gain life, draw cards and reanimate creatures from the graveyard.
What is OP About Kenrith:
- He doesn't give away your strategy from the start. All your opponents will know is that you can play all five colors and have at least white mana to cast Kenrith. This can make them mulligan into a bad hand if they make wrong assumptions about your strategy.
- Kenrith lets you play spells from any color. Individual card power level varies in Brawl because of the singleton restriction. He lets you play the infamous five-color good stuff deck if you want.
- All his abilities can be the enabler for a particular theme. He can support any deck focused +1/+1 counters, life gain, card draw, and reanimation.
- No matter what strategy you play, at the very least you always have access to a 5/5 creature from your command zone. If you add a way to produce red and green mana, he's even more threatening because of haste, trample, and the ability to grow bigger.
- You can activate his abilities can immediately. Once he hits the battlefield, there's no stopping you from activating his abilities for as much mana as you can spend.
3. Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Kinnan has two abilities that make him a great commander for ramp decks. His static ability lets him boost the mana production of nonland permanents. His activated ability lets you pay seven mana to play a non-human creature from the top five cards of your library for free.
What is OP About Kinnan:
- He only costs two mana. This means he's easy to recast if your opponent manages to kill him a couple of times.
- Kinnan boosts nonland permanents as opposed to only creatures. With a combination of mana rocks and mana dorks, it's easier to recover even if you get hit with mass removal.
- The non-Human restriction of his ability does not matter. All the desirable payoff cards are non-Human anyway.
- His blue color identity gives you access to counterspells that will protect your board from kill spells and board sweepers.
- He is both an enabler and a payoff card. Compared to something like Azusa where you need a separate payoff card for the mana acceleration.
2. Heliod, Sun-Crowned
Heliod takes advantage of white's tendency to end up with cards that have life gain attached to them. His ability lets you grow him or your other creatures, plus he can give Lifelink to any of your creatures. He's also indestructible and becomes a 5/5 creature once you have enough white devotion.
What is OP About Heliod:
- He is very hard to get rid of. The list of things that can deal with him are very few especially in a singleton format like Brawl.
- Heliod only costs three mana. This means he can come down early and start affecting the board with his abilities.
- His activated ability gives all your creatures the ability to get Lifelink for two mana. This makes damage racing impossible against opposing aggro decks.
- He dominates the board once he becomes a creature. Only a handful of creatures can block a 5/5 indestructible god and live to tell the tale.
- With Heliod, life gain becomes an offensive weapon. If an opponent playing a non-aggro deck, Linden by herself is only a generic 3/3 creature. However, she becomes a must kill threat once Heliod is on the battlefield.
1. Omnath, Locus of Creation
Omnath has inherited the title quintessential good stuff commander now that Niv-Mizzet Reborn has sailed off into the land of Historic. All you need to do is add ramp/mana fixing, cards that synergize with landfall, and your preferred haymakers and you have a deck.
What is OP About Omnath:
- Omnath has a four color identity. This gives you access to the most powerful spells of all but one color. Unlike with Simic commanders, you have access to white and red removal if you wish.
- It draws you a card on ETB. This means you’re ahead on cards no matter how he’s dealt with. Even if it’s countered, they still spent a card while you can just recast it from the command zone.
- Its landfall trigger gives you life. Traditionally, one way to defeat ramp is to beat them down as they’re setting up their mana. Gaining four life every first land drop makes that very difficult.
- You can have very explosive turns. With Lotus Cobra and Fabled Passage, you can generate up to 10 mana as early as turn four!
- It can deal with strategies on both ends of the spectrum. You can play mass removal against aggressive decks, and you can use cards like Uro and Shark Typhoon against control.
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