[Top 15] MTG Arena Best Commanders

Updated:

01 Feb 2021

[TOP 15] MTG Arena Best Commanders

Brawl it out in MTG Arena

Some time ago, MTG Arena introduced its own version of commander which is called Brawl. The basic formula is the same: 25 life points, a commander which is a legendary creature, and you can only play cards of the colours that appear on the commander. The main difference though is that in Arena’s Brawl format the decks only consist of 60 cards as opposed to traditional commander’s 100. Brawl is a fun play-mode, that I recommend trying out at least once. Without further ado, here are the top 15 commanders to try out in MTG Arena Brawl.

15. Kenrith, the Returned King

Kenrith

Kenrith is a versatile commander that enables you to play any colour cards in Brawl.
His abilities compliment a wide variety of playstyles. You can play aggressive decks, controlling decks or anything in between with this commander at your side.
He fits best into mid-range Brawl decks that mostly focus on value producing spells and building a strong board presence.

14. Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin

Krenko

Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin is best used in highly aggressive and go-wide Brawl decks
His ability to produce goblins is unmatched by any other commander out there.
He is cheap to cast, and with a buff spell or two, he can get out of control very early in the game.

13. Etrata, the Silencer

Etrata, the Silencer

Etrata wins the game by herself in just three attacks, provided she survives the ordeal.
The great thing about this commander is that when the triggered ability activates, the card doesn’t get shuffled into the library but it can return to the command zone.
The card art reminds me of Inej “the Wraith” from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

12. Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale

Ride for valor and for glory

Syr Gwyn is a powerful creature on her own.
She has a powerful ability, which sadly only works in only a few decks.
She relies heavily on knight synergies and is quite expensive for a commander, but hits hard and helps you refuel your hand when played at the right moment, which reserves her a spot on this list.

11. Torbran, Thane of Red Fell

Get ready to burn

Torbran works very well in a red go wide fast brawl deck.
He functions as an enchantment when you play him, enabling you to attack for massive amounts of damage in the same turn.
It’s possible to end a game on turn 4 with Torbran at your side.

10. The Royal Scions

Feel the wrath of the twins

The Royal Scions help you dig for relevant threats early in the game.
As a planeswalker, they are hard to remove on turn three if you already have a blocker in play.
The main advantage of Scions is the fact they are so cheap to cast.

9. Niv-Mizzet, Parun

In the presence of greatness

Niv-Mizzet is an absolute powerhouse, he’s hard to deal with, draws you cards and deals a ton of damage.
He is quite expensive to cast, but his ability makes up for it very well.
When he hits the battlefield and remains unanswered for a turn, your deck takes off.
For the opponent, it’s hard to keep up with all the card draw and damage it deals.

8. Kykar, Wind’s Fury

Bird magic

This card was made with Brawl in mind.
The jeskai colours enable you to play a very aggressive and spell-oriented strategy.
It has token creation and mana acceleration built into the package.
It’s relatively cheap, which means you’ll be able to play it many times in the course of a game even if it gets removed.

7. Yarok, the Desecrated

Feel the horror in your bones

Yarok is a formidable commander.
It must be one of the scariest creatures to ever come out of the bowels of the magic universe.
The decks that include Yarok are seriously fun to play and let you take over the battlefield with ease once you resolve it.
Be very afraid of Hushbringer when you play a deck with Yarok.

6. Feather, the Redeemed

Bring on the vanguards

Feather is an amazing commander, simply because she lets you replay most cards in the deck.
A 3 / 4 flyer for only three mana is already a very powerful creature, but with the ability and the fact that you can replay commanders once they get killed gives Feather some extra good-girl points.

5. Alela, Artful Provocateur

What will it be today, customer?

Alela was made specifically with commander in mind.
She has passable stats, but all the text included on the card makes her really powerful.
Once you start producing faeries and smacking enchantments or artifacts onto the board, she really starts to shine.
Putting an enchantment on Alela such as All that Glitters or a powerful artifact, will pick your health points right back up and even leave you extra blockers behind in the case she gets removed, or if your opponent decides to swing back in full force the next turn.

4. Chulane, Teller of Tales

Once upon a time...

Chulane has great flavour for a story (or tale) teller.
Stats-wise, Chulane looks a bit weak, but his ability is incredibly powerful.
Once you start playing creatures into his ability, he starts snowballing hard.
He’s great with landfall abilities, if only MTG Arena had more of those.

3. Korvold, Fae-Cursed King

Bring me a sacrifice traveller, then we'll talk.

Korvold has already made an appearance in the standard format, but now he’s in his natural habitat in his most lethal form.
In my experience, the most important part of Korvold is the fact that he’s a great sacrifice outlet and that he draws you many cards over the course of a game.
Additionally, he still has great stats for a five-mana creature.

2. Golos, Tireless Pilgrim

Come with me, let us explore the world.

Golos brings all the colours of the MTG rainbow with him and is one of the few LGBT commanders.
It’s a good thing that Golos isn’t a car, since a tireless car won’t get you far.
Jokes aside, he fixes your mana and lets you play three free spells off the top of your library with his ability. It’s an expensive ability, but a very powerful one at that.

1. Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God

The dragon god

Bolas is an absolutely terrifying commander.
He’s great at removing threats, discarding your opponent’s hand and drawing you cards to keep the flame going.
His ultimate ability is a win condition on its own, albeit a hard one to execute in a Brawl game.
His passive ability is just ridiculous. It’s great to counter your opponents plays by mirroring everything that their own planeswalkers do, but being able to use abilities of even more powerful planeswalkers than bolas twice in a turn is mad.