Best Commanders in EDH [Tier List] Part 1

Commander / EDH* smilodex

SCORE: 301 | 329 COMMENTS | 265823 VIEWS | IN 125 FOLDERS


smilodex says... #1

@dazhaun: Next time, please read the description, before you start complaining. We already wrote a comment about exact that problem. Thanks.

June 16, 2022 3:39 p.m.

Eisenherz says... #2

dazhaun

It appears to me that you have no experience with cEDH and thats totally fine, but concerning your argument about Thassas + Consult there is a critical flaw in your assessment: Yes, it is the most compact combo in the format, but it doesn't turn a high powered deck into a highly competitive deck just by itself. That's just not how competitive deck building works. You need a viable commander, a viable strategy, optimal card choices, the draw engines, tutors, ramp, interaction etc. to make a competitive deck. If you compared an "true" cEDH deck to a high powered deck that plays Oracle+Consult, you'd notice the difference in card advangage, resilency, speed, interaction etc.

Also keep in mind that tier lists are highly subjective. We try to be as objective as we can, but there is always a subjective bias, so do not take this list - or any list for that matter - as objective truth.

June 17, 2022 8:47 a.m.

dazhaun says... #3

@smilodex I did respectfully read your description and it was not sufficent to illustrate this point, because you say "This list is rating all the commanders and the best possible decks, which are playable with this particular commander." If you rock a Kenrith list underneath an atogatog, you'll still be running at the very worst a tier 1 deck, and will likely win many cEDH games. Of course while having a Tier 0 titan at the helm would make the deck have a vastly better win rate, this fine-tuned decklist would have a very high win rate at any non-cEDH table. You could expand your description to state this fact, because it is not just my opinion, it is the opinion of many experienced cEDH players. Head over to the cEDH discord if you want proof.

June 17, 2022 9:32 a.m.

smilodex says... #4

We don't rate the decks, we mostly rank the potential and strength of a commander.

"This list seeks to categorize all multiplayer COMMANDERS (we don't rate the decks, we rate the maximum potential of a certain commander)"

And I'm sure you see the difference between Kenrith and AtogAtog, right?

June 19, 2022 2:53 p.m.

Sephyrias says... #5

What puts Raffine, Scheming Seer in tier 2 and Evelyn, the Covetous in tier 3, while Anhelo, the Painter is tier 4? I'd argue Anhelo is at the very least on par with Zevlor, Elturel Exile, who also ended up in tier 2. Zevlor and Anhelo are in the same colors and do the same magecraft combos.

Alela, Artful Provocateur has dropped really far, hasn't she? I'm also surprised to see Commander Liara Portyr in the same tier as her, what makes Liara Portyr that good? You have to jump through a lot of hoops to get value out of her. Is there some easy way to infinitely cast a spell from exile with her?

The Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth + March of the Machines combo is very strong, surprised that she is a tier below Siona, Captain of the Pyleas.

Side note: the list currently reads "2x Raggadragga".

June 22, 2022 8:46 p.m.

Eisenherz says... #6

Hello everyone,

sorry for the delay, but real life issues had priority (pun not intended) and had to be dealt with before we could take care of the update. Well, here it is:

You might notice, that we had to make some drastic changes. The list had to be split in two, because tappedout wouldn't allow us to make a list with more than 1300 items. That's why we now have a list that goes from Tier 0 (Titans) to Tier 6 (Mid Power) and a secondary list that has Tier 7 - 9.

Another thing you might notice is that we swapped a few commanders around. Some got upgraded, some downgraded. As always, please keep in mind that we give our best to be objective, but we are human and will always have some sort of bias, just because of our own personal experiences.

Finally, we have not yet included the "Background" Commanders, as they are really hard to assess, there are a ton of them with a ton of different combination and we want to take our time with that and see what brews people come up with in the near future.

Thank your for being patient, SmilodeX and Eisenherz

ps. AtogAtog will NEVER be put into anything near a cEDH viable category. That's just not happening. No matter how many people on whichever discord server argue that any 5C commander is top tier. You can respectfully disagree, but it's just not happening.

June 23, 2022 10:53 a.m.

Nonary27 says... #7

Where can I find the secondary list 7-9?

June 24, 2022 2:05 p.m.

Eisenherz says... #8

Nonary27

it's linked in the description box

June 26, 2022 3:27 a.m.

knusperklotz says... #9

I would like to know your reason for putting Baba Lysaga in mid power, personally I would have put her in the high power section.

June 26, 2022 5:54 a.m.

smilodex says... #10

@Sephyrias: Raffine is good in many ways. She is evasive, has built-in protection, is fairly cheap to cast and in good colors. She generates value in the form of looting and buffs creatures, which can be good for so many valid competitive strategies like Doomsday, pseudo-Farm, Hatebears, reanimator, etc.

In our opinion there are differences between Evelyn, Anhelo and Zevlor. Sure, they could all win with a certain magecraft combo, but not only the combos matter, also synergy and a lot of other important points like overall gameplay value are part of the evaluation.

Zevlor for example can be part of Dramatic Scepter Combo, and he also breaks some cards like Intuition, Jeska's Will, Praetor's Grasp, Gitaxian Probe/Peek, Thoughtseize etc.

Anhelo is a 3 mana (mostly) do nothing, until you can sacrifice a creature to copy a spell. At least he has good colors and is a 1/3 with deathtouch, but Kess is in most usecases straight up better in competitive games.

Most of the time, we can compare commanders to already existing ones. Evelyn can be compared to Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge, but Jeleva is one mana cheaper, and you have the ability to cast some good spells for free. One of the upsides of Evelyn is the fact that you can straight up win the game with the Worldgorger Dragon combo, BUT this upside is also a bit of a downside, since this combo is way too easy to interrupt and if you mess up, you straight up lose the game.

The list looks a bit different now, since we had to split the Tierlist. We didn't move Alela in a long time. Even if you have to jump through some hoops, Liara Portyr can generate quite some value with Wotc currently printing a ton of good red and white cards, with synergetic effects like myriad and other exile mechanics.

The Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth + March of the Machines combo is very slow and expensive and these cards aren't that great outside the specific combo, whereas Siona is very cheap to cast and also helps to search for the combo piece or a stax piece, while you can slow down the game with stax. Another big upside for Siona is, that she can win through most common hate pieces like Rule of Law.

@knusperklotz: You're kinda right, Baba Lysaga, Night Witch is a shaky candidate. I think she has the potential to be a high power commander. She can grind a lot of value in longer games, but he needs quite some set up to get going. We decided to first put her into mid tier, because she's in Lightning Bolt range and has no impact when she enters the battlefield. But she's definitely one of the better mid commanders. It's also very likely that we put her into high power when wotc release more synergetic cards for this commander.

June 28, 2022 12:48 p.m.

joe_mama_joe says... #11

This is a great tier list! The time and effort that went into this is awesome!

I'm not a cEDH player, so this list has proven helpful as I try to go more into the competitive side, since I play very competitive formats like vintage and legacy.

One question: Why is Cao-Cao rated so high? Shouldn't it be like tier 7-9 or am I missing something?

June 29, 2022 3:54 p.m.

smilodex says... #12

@joe_mama_joe: Thanks for the kind words. So I'll try to explain our choice here:

Cao Cao, Lord of Wei isn't rated that high, he's just a middle of the road commander, but he can quickly wreak havoc along with untappers, Waste Not or Tergrid, God of Fright  Flip. Black has also access to all the good tutors, removal and ritual ramp.

June 29, 2022 10:07 p.m.

vasarto77 says... #13

Charix, the Raging Isle Where is this?

July 1, 2022 9:11 p.m.

smilodex says... #14

@vasarto77: You can find Charix in part 2 of the Tier list (link in the description)

July 2, 2022 7:50 p.m.

yurixquest says... #15

why nalia is a mid power? I see she doing a powerfull stax deck

July 3, 2022 1:55 p.m.

Nonary27 says... #16

Because mid-power is not weak? I mean considering current casual magic decks power level an optimized mid-power commander can crush the table (not even need to use broken expensive cards, just good mana curve and decent synergy)

July 5, 2022 6:03 p.m.

GlassTyrant says... #17

What about Ulamog the Infinate Gyre. What tyre is it?

July 6, 2022 12:35 p.m.

Nonary27 says... #18

GlassTyrant Ulamog is tier 8, here is the link https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/best-commanders-in-edh-tier-list-part-2/

July 6, 2022 2:12 p.m.

cham27 says... #19

I don't see Ghalta, Primal Hunter on the list. This is my go to list thank you so much!

July 17, 2022 1:59 a.m.

Tatsunari, Toad Rider definitely belongs in Fringe Competitive. I've won multiple pods in different circles and online piloting a PolyTyrant list. The Keimi token drains the table in conjunction with Hullbreaker Horror. I don't think it's a great deck, but definitely better than it's company in High Power. Sultai gives it access to the best colors.

August 14, 2022 5:53 a.m.

No way is Katilda, Dawnheart Prime Mid Power. It's a stax/elfball style deck and easily feels at home at any Cedh table.

August 14, 2022 6:17 a.m.

wesleydm1999 says... #22

Still think Shorikai, Genesis Engine should be a higher tier just because of the sheer amount of stax and card advantage that mech creates.

August 15, 2022 7:47 a.m.

Nonary27 says... #23

What's your guys opinion on DMU commanders?

September 6, 2022 12:01 a.m.

Eisenherz says... #24

Nonary27

There are some good ones, like Meria, Jodah and Vohar, but honestly we are both kind of burned out by this project and will take our time with the next update. WOTC is just releasing new commanders too rapidly to keep up without just randomly throwing commanders in this or that tier.

September 6, 2022 8:14 a.m.

Nonary27 says... #25

I agree, there are plenty legendary creatures in CLB as well as DMU, there should be less of then in the future

By the way, isn't Meria just weak Urza? card advantage is great (especially in those deck can make a lot of mana) but nontoken is a big downside, it means no treasure, clue, foods etc

September 6, 2022 1:51 p.m.

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