Top 10 Best Commander 2021 Cards

In this article I’ll talk about the best Commander 2021 cards. I want to primarily focus on new cards for the 99, but I’ll also go briefly into my top three new legionaries for both Commanders and in the 99.

Anyways, I am extremely excited for the Commander decks, that got released along with the Strixhaven set. I’ve already preordered all five decks! I’m digging how each deck fits the Ravnica two color strategy, but are using drastically different strategies compared to their Ravnica counterparts. I also love the art styles for the new school houses.

School Houses Overview

Before we get to the list of the best Commander 2021 cards, let’s quickly talk about the general themes of the Strixhaven houses / colleges.

Witherbloom Witchcraft

Green/black focusing on life gain is fun, especially if you combine it with black spells that cost life. I love how this deck is built around life gain but also is very aggressive for dealing damage to opponents. Golgari generally focuses on making creature tokens and sacrificing, and I like how the life gain strategy has some of that but also takes its strategy in a unique direction. Usually life gain decks up until now have been black-white or white-green, so I’m excited for the new cards.

Lorehold Legacies

Red-white’s focus on artifacts gives them more ramp and control than Boros, and they still have the trademark aggressive attackers expected from the colors. The fact that they added so much ramp for white makes me happy. I’m also a fan of artifact decks and the focus on them as aggressive attackers is really enjoyable. Too often with my other artifact decks I have to win slowly with fliers, with infinite combos, or Blightsteel Colossus with haste.

Prismari Performance

Blue-red is focused on instants and sorceries, which is pretty much the same as Izzet, but I’m loving the new art style. Theater kids and explosions are always fun. I’m really glad there is new suspend cards since that works amazingly for the Magecraft mechanic. Magecraft cards has abilities that trigger whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell.

Quantum Quandrix

Blue/green’s focus on tokens and clones sounds like tons of fun. I love Simic but I prefer tokens over +1/+1 counters. Makes it easier to swarm your opponents, and makes their kill spells less effective. There are also tons of room for combos with making copies of creatures with cool abilities.

Silverquill Statement

Black/white has a larger focus on +1/+1 counters and brings back mass token generation, which is tons of fun. Orzhov mostly focused on stealing life, which was fun but I’m enjoying the idea of more aggressive creatures. There are also tons of fun tricks, such as a main legendary that rewards your opponents for attacking anyone but you. I love political cards that award opponents to fight among themselves while I build my board.

Top 3 Best Commander 2021 Cards – Commanders

Let’s take a look at some of the best commanders that we’ve got with Commander 2021. Since the face Commanders are a bit obvious choices (and you’ve already seen them above), I excluded them from this list.

#3 Losheel, Clockwork Scholar

• Available in: Lorehold Legacies

Such a great card for white. Card draw is always good, plus protecting your attacking artifact creatures is amazing for aggressive players! Being able to ruthlessly attack without worrying about losing your creatures is such a great effect.

Give them vigilance and you’re be able to survive attacks and have blockers for your opponents’ turns. The low mana cost also means you can start drawing cards very early, which is always good. 

#2 Gyome, Master Chef

• Available in: Witherbloom Witchcraft

Easily my favorite legendary for this set. The chef hat, the protecting your creatures, the sacrificing food, such a great card! I love the idea of building a deck around Gyome with strong creatures and tons of board wipes.

I’m also going to make some custom food tokens, maybe artwork inspired by Dragon Crown or some sweet fantasy food art. I also see him comboing off with Meren of Clan Nel Toth, with either as your commander.

If you get your mana curve perfect for creatures, Gyome can get two foods per turn with Birthing Pod, since you’ll play a creature and then sacrifice it to tutor another creature.

#1 Rionya, Fire Dancer

• Available in: Prismari Performance

Such an interesting commander. I enjoy that you get at least one copy per turn, even if you didn’t cast any spells this turn. I like the idea of building Rionya’s deck with tons of spells that steal opponent’s creatures until end of turn and cards with sacrifice abilities.

That way I can steal an opponent’s creature, make copies, and then sacrifice all of them after combat. There are a bunch of great cards to benefit from the tokens, such as:

• Altar of Dementia
• Ashnod’s Altar
• Phyrexian Arena

Top 10 Best Commander 2021 Cards – For 99

Moving on, let’s take a look at the best Commander 2021 cards, that can’t be your commanders. However, they are still sweet cards to include in various decks.

#10 Sproutback Trudge

• Available in: Witherbloom Witchcraft

I love life gain decks but you usually fall into the problem of too much defense, no way to win the game. Sproutback Trudge helps fix this problem by giving you a beefy creature with Trample that can be recast for cheap. Having 9 damage swinging each turn will wear down anyone’s defenses.

#9 Marshland Bloodcaster

• Available in: Witherbloom Witchcraft

This card works in so many combo decks, even if you don’t have a large life gain focus. It works with Cascade, Storm, and anything with high cost ramp. Plus, for 5 CMC, you get a 3/5 flyer, which is great as a blocker or attacker.

#8 Blossoming Bogbeast

• Available in: Witherbloom Witchcraft

Such a great card for green decks that love Overrun. Even if you’re not focused on life gain, you’re still giving Trample and +2/+2 to every creature you control. Perfect for token decks that have Avenger of Zendikar or you can use it to combo with Prossh, Skyraider of Kher.

#7 Inkshield

• Available in: Silverquill Statement

I’m a big fan of cards like Fog and Safe Passage. Having someone attack you for lethal damage, and then turning it around with one card is amazing. Now normally in Commander, it complicates things due to you wanting to attack the now open player, but also thinking about what if other players will attack you when you’re open.

Inkshield fixes this problem by giving you tons of tokens to attack with, so your other creatures can stay to block for you. The best part is you’re swinging with double the damage you prevented, which will kill most players. Serves them right for attacking you.

#6 Incarnation Technique

• Available in: Silverquill Statement

So far I’m loving the Demonstrate cards. They’re a great way to help your fellow players and let you team up on a more threatening player. This is my favorite Demonstrate card so far due to it being the easiest to manipulate so it doesn’t help the other player. Just target the player that doesn’t have creatures, or has a small graveyard.

There is some risk of them getting a powerful creature, but hopefully you’re getting two stronger creatures so cross your fingers!

#5 Theoretical Duplication

• Available in: Quantum Quandrix

Most Instant speed clone effects only target your own creatures, so having one that makes a copy of your opponent’s creature for 3 CMC is amazing! Having an instant blocker or being able to swing with your copy before the original creature can really turn a game around. I’m just picturing myself copying a legendary Eldrazi or Blightsteel Colossus.

#4 Perplexing Test

• Available in: Quantum Quandrix

I’m a fan of any one sided board wipe, and this is a unique take on that. If you’re building a full token deck this can destroy other players’ boards, giving you an opening to take someone out. It combos extremely well with Clone Legion, especially if you have cards that can lower mana costs such as Saheeli, the Gifted.

#3 Curiosity Crafter

• Available in: Quantum Quandrix

Such a great card for 4 mana. It works with bird, angel, or fairy decks with tons of flying tokens. I’m 100% putting this in my Alela, Artful Provocateur deck. Having the no maximum hand size built into a draw engine is also amazing. It has decent stats and flying so it can also attack alongside the tokens for damage, even if it can’t trigger its own ability.

#2 Bronze Guardian

• Available in: Lorehold Legacies

Such a powerhouse! Double strike, the ability to protect all of your artifacts, and his power grows with each artifact you play. Such an amazing card. The double strike is amazing with any equipment that have abilities that trigger with combat damage or that give trample.

#1 Monologue Tax

• Available in: Lorehold Legacies

Any ramp in white is a positive for me. Three CMC means it’ll come out early hopefully, and can manipulate the game more than Smothering Tithe. Sure, Tithe will get you more Treasure, but Monologue Tax will make your opponents not want to cast that second spell.

They might break up their turns more, and if two blue players get into a counter duel you’re profit!

Which is the Best Commander 2021 Card?

That’s all about best Commander 2021 cards. Which one is the for you? Let us know in the comments below.

If you want to know more about the new precons, you can find all five Commander 2021 decklists here. Additionally, we also have articles on how to upgrade them:

• Lorehold Legacies Upgrade Guide
• Silverquill Statement Upgrade Guide
• Witherbloom Witchcraft Upgrade Guide
• Quantum Quandrix Upgrade Guide
• Prismari Performance Upgrade Guide

You can comment below if you want us to make decklists for any of the new legendaries. Besides Gyome, I’m actually more excited for seeing decks with the mono-colored legendaries such as Rionya and Losheel. You can follow my fiancé and me on Instagram @casual_clerics_play_mtg and see what we build with our decks. Good luck with your games!