MTG: Mind Games – Top Five Horror Commanders
Dig deep into your opponent’s worst fears and drain their sanity (and their life) with these five Commanders.
Welcome Planeswalkers and Praetors to our ongoing series about the best casual experience in Magic: Commander. For the uninitiated, Commander is a semi-casual format for Magic: the Gathering. You use a deck of 100 cards led by a legendary creature, aka, your Commander.
Aside from basic lands, you are only allowed one copy of each card in the deck. Moreover, you can only include cards in your Commander’s “color identity” or artifacts. Each color and color combo has a unique playstyle and a wealth of mighty generals to lead your deck to victory. EDHRec.com is an excellent source for Commander info and can give you ideas to build your next Commander deck or tune an existing one.
Though a bit underrepresented in the game, Horrors are nonetheless a powerful creature type. Most of them have abilities that drain your opponent’s library, rob their graveyard, or punish them for DARING to draw cards. While not the most potent combat monsters, they can pull a lot of tricks while the opponent is distracted.
Captain N’Ghathrod
The illithid captain with the hard-to-pronounce name, N’Ghathrod is the go-to Commander if you want to go full horror. He’s a 3/6 for five, which is plenty of a bargain already, but he also hands out menace to all your Horrors. Since he’s a Mind Flayer, he wants to chow down on your opponent’s brain, which in Magic terms means eating their library. Not only does he turn combat damage into deck destruction, but he also steals cards from your opponent after draining them.
Umbris, Fear Manifest
Where N’Ghathrod wants to fill the graveyard, Umbris wants to go right past that and put cards out of everyone’s reach: in exile. Umbris gets stronger for every card your opponent has in exile, and whenever a Horror or Nightmare hits the field (including Umbris himself), one of your opponents has to exile cards until they hit a land. While this could fizzle, it could completely dissect your opponent’s strategy. Plus, for every card that goes out, Umbris is getting bigger, potentially wiping out a DIFFERENT opponent with Commander damage.
Breeches, Brazen Plunderer/Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
Utilizing the “Background” mechanic from Baldur’s Gate, Zellix apparently has some ghosts in his closet. Zellix can force a mill with a tap, potentially making a tiny Horror. Whenever he does, all you OTHER Horrors get a buff to their teeth and the undying effect. While this won’t make them overpowered, it will make them harder to kill and stronger once they swing back around. Plus, you’re getting a free mill without having to attack, keeping your Commander moderately safe from trackback.
THESE COMMANDERS ARE NOT LISTED ON EDHREC’S HORROR TYPAL PAGE, BUT THEY’RE STILL WORTH CONSIDERING
Toxrill, the Corrosive
Toxrill, the master of the slow boardwipe, is rightfully feared by the Commander community. At the beginning of every end step, every creature you don’t control gets a slime counter, which gives them -1/-1. Once they die (which they will even if you do nothing else), you get a 1/1 Slug token. You can sacrifice those tokens for a card draw or just run over your opponent with the nastiest army out there. Low Toughness horde decks quake in fear at the mere mention of his slimy name.
Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar
Rounding out the horror show is Grazilaxx, a Commander who loves a full hand. He protects your creatures in combat by unsummoning them and gives you a draw whenever they break through. He doesn’t hold a candle to the other Commanders on this list, but if you have buffs that care about hand size, he can do some crazy tricks.
What do you think of these Commanders?
