Top 10 Best Jeskai Commanders

In this article you’ll find the best Jeskai commanders. You can use them, to lead your White-Blue-Red commander deck. Before we start, here’s a quick introduction to Jeskai, which can be especially useful for beginners.

Introduction

We’re continuing the series of articles based on three color combinations. Today we’re talking about best Jeskai commanders. White-Blue-Red is arguably the most used and powerful out of tri-color combos.

In comparison to Abzan, which has three main themes, Jeskai is pretty much about spells only. All its cards focus around casting spells and getting value in return. Each color brings their own unique ability, but the theme remains the same.

Blue brings card draw and counterspells, Red brings damage, and White brings lifegain and tokens. These three color abilities are most often combined into the theme of spells. As you will be able to see, or already know, Jeskai is an excellent color combo if you like the spell-slinger playstyle.

In Commander, this kind of deck needs to function at a good pace. It needs to focus on building an engine which takes advantage of your commander.  And it needs to make sure your opponents don’t get out of hand. As it is a strategy which is not based around board presence, these three main aspects need to be included and essential.

With that in mind, a card to choose as your general needs to be the main priority. So, with that in mind. I give to you some options of what I think are the best Jeskai commanders out there. There will also be some commanders, which I consider fun to build around.

Honorable Mentions

First, here are some cards, that didn’t quite make the cut to the Top 10 Best Jeskai Commanders list.

Ruhan of the Fomori

Ruhan is an exception amongs Jeskai Commanders. It does not care about spells or board presence. It only cares about chaos and luck. Furthermore, it’s certainly one of the most iconic Voltron Commanders out there.

If you are not familiar with Voltron decks, they are decks based around making your commander your main weapon. It looks to win through Commander damage. Usually the Commander is a good attacking creature.

This is definitely the case with Ruhan. A 7/7 for 4 mana is great value. The colors are great for support. Don’t forget to include some equipment, when building around it. So yeah, Ruhan’s pretty good. Too bad Voltron is slowly becoming less and less effective.

Akim, the Soaring Wind

If you already have a lot of token productions, you probably don’t want Akim as your Commander, as it only gives you a single Bird once per turn.

To be honest, it’s not a great general, but it is a good support card. However, if you want to try something else, this is an okay choice. Good colors, standard ability, and a way to dump mana. Passable.

Numot, the Devastator

Numot is one of those Dragons that became underwhelming, as some other old school designs. Its stats are not that bad, and its ability is decent, although bizarre. It’s a Jeskai land destruction commander.

If there is an unwritten rule in the game, it’s “do not mess with lands”. However, if you want to make some enemies, this is your guy. The colors are good for land destruction. Plus, you have access to damage, lifegain, and card draw. Numot can be there just to tie everything together as the head of your land destruction Commander deck.

Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker / Kraum, Ludevic’s Opus / Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder

I have put these three cards together. All of them are partner Commanders. And all of them can be a part of a deck with the Jeskai colors. Each of them are decent enough to be combined with one another, but I could not decide which pair was better.

Also, there are plenty of combinations with other partner Commanders out there. But these three were the best and most used.

Ishai gets +1/+1 whenever an opponent casts a spell. Kraum draws you a card whenever an opponent casts their second spell. And Bruse Tarl is an attack-based Commander, which guarantees you an impact on the game. Any of the three can be pretty good Commanders. So there you go, some choices to make.

Now with these honorable mentions out of the way, let’s get into the main list.

#10 Brallin, Skyshark Rider // Shabraz, the Skyshark

I have to say that Skysharks are really an interesting and cool concept. Then, to come up with the idea of someone that rides it is quite creative. The idea of partner Commanders is great when you can pair them in different ways, but the way they decided to do them with specific combinations was restrictive but more focused. The two cards basically work best between each other.

In root, the theme of the deck is cycling. Which is one of the main abilities from the Ikoria set, from where they came. It provides card draw and discard. That’s turned into damage and life gain with these two commanders. Pretty interesting duality, but one that works within the colors.

Although they are not the most powerful duo out there, they are for sure quite good. You can also find some other ways to build around them and don’t have to lean on cycling.

#9 Gnostro, Voice of the Crags

If you really think about it, all the best Jeskai Commanders are spell based. This one is a little different, but its mechanics are built with the same strategy in mind. Basically, the more spells you cast in a turn, the better its ability becomes.

It is great that each of the three options you have to choose from are all based on the three colors. Blue is represented by the ability to scry, red is represented by the ability to do damage, and white is obviously the lifegain.

You can also add cards which help you to untap Gnostro making it possible to trigger its ability more than once in a single turn (something like Chakram Retriever or cCerulean Wisps). Really solid Commander with plenty of potential.

#8 Vadrok, Apex of Thunder

Vadrok has the ability to cast a noncreature card (that costs 3 or less) from the graveyard without paying its mana cost. All of this is possible whenever Vadrok mutates. That certainly a dynamic ability introduced to Jeskai.

With the right support cards, Vadrok can become a real a menace. Taking its abilities out of consideration, its stats are also great, 3/3 for 3 with flying and first strike. Getting the right mix of creatures with mutate and various sorts of cheap noncreature cards (such as artifacts, enchantments, and even planeswalkers) can be fascinating and challenging.

#7 Sevinne, the Chronoclasm

Sevinne comes from the Mystic Intellect precon. (Get it on Amazon.) It is quite unusual when a preconstructed deck has so many cards that make a great impact in the format. While Sevinne is not quite the best Commander in the deck, it is still a fantastic one to build around.

Sevinne basically doubles spells, whenever they are cast from the graveyard. This is interesting not only because it can be built with spells with abilities such as storm, jumpstart, flashback, etc. Don’t forget to also include cards which allow you to cast cards from the graveyard.

Additionally, the fact that Sevinne can trigger in any turn is great. This further solidifies it as one of the best Jeskai commanders.

#6 Pramikon, Sky Rampart

If there is a card that best represents control in Jeskai, it is this one. It is the best card for a defensive and reactive strategy. It is not only a great defensive creature with large toughness and flying, but it also controls who can attack who.

This makes table position really important. It also provides a political angle. You can also change the directions whenever it re-enters the battlefield. Additionally, if you can find a way to make a copy of Pramikon, it guarantees that no one can attack each other.

Plus, its colors allow you to have counterspells, cantrips, removal, and lifegain. What control player is not happy with this?

#5 Zedruu the Greathearted

The ability to give your opponents your permanents on paper is bad. But taking into consideration the colors and first ability that Zerduu has, it can be wonderful. At the beginning of your upkeep, you gain life, and you draw cards equal to the amount of permanents you own that are under your opponents’ control.

You can also pay three mana to give a permanent out to an opponent. This can be played in a group hug strategy where you just one the whole table to have fun and win by charming everyone.

Or you can play strategically, having permanents that you can give out and are not beneficial to the player that controls them. (Maybe something like Aggressive Mining.) Either way, this deck guarantees uniqueness and creativity, as well as good game knowledge, in order to pull it off.

#4 Narset, Enlightened Master

If you want an explosive deck that has lots of value, Narset is for you. She has an excellent attack trigger, and hexproof makes her a hard creature to deal with. Her ability makes you exile the top 4 cards from the top of your library and cast any noncreature spell from among them without paying its mana cost.

This ability makes it possible to find instants or sorceries that can improve her attack or deal with possible blockers. It can also give you spells that can set you up for the future, gain you life, deal damage, or draw you cards. The most common way to get a lot of value out of it, is to use extra turn spells, such as Time Warp.

All in all, Narset can be an insanely powerful commander, and is certainly one of the best Jeskai commanders.

#3 Gavi, Nest Warden

This is another card that was the main face of a preconstructed deck. This one from Timeless Wisdom. (Get the deck on Amazon.) Her main ability and theme is cycle cards. Whenever you draw your second card each turn, you create a 2/2 Dino. So, not only do you get to draw, but you also get board presence.

It also makes the first card you cycle each turn cost 0. Cycling has also been a good ability. Replacing a card you do not need for a new one is great. There are many cards that take advantage of this ability, such as Dismantling Wave. Pretty good card.

#2 Elsha of the Infinite

Casting cards from the top of your library has always been a powerful ability. It makes your library an extension of your hand. The fact that Elsha makes you be able to cast them as though they had flash is even crazier.

Sure, you can only cast noncreature spells, but I mean, Jeskai is based upon this. It also gives you the ability to look at the top card of your library whenever you wish. So you can pick and choose when to play from the top of your library.

If that was not enough, she also has prowess in case you needed more. She is at the verge of being an incredibly broken card.

#1 Kykar, Wind’s Fury

It’s crazy how the best Jeskai commanders are pretty recent ones. This is not quite as new, but it’s still relatively recent. Of course, it cares about noncreature spells.

Whenever you cast a noncreature card, you get a 1/1 flying Spirit. Flying is what makes these tokens even more valuable. The second ability is to sacrifice a Spirit for one red mana. This is what makes this card stand out, as it allows you to keep casting noncreature spells.

So tokens can be used to attack or defend, and they can be sacrificed for mana. It all is a close circle and an engine in itself. The only thing that would make this card out of this world is if it had a way to generate card draw. But that would just make this Kykar just too good, and it’s already my number one choice for the best Jeskai commander.

Conclusion

Spells have always been one of my favorite types of cards. They can do more at different stages in the game. They also need to be played with care because usually they can only be played once. Their effect can be immense in certain situations.

Jeskai is the best color combination to play this type of deck. Three colors which are great at casting spells and generating value through them.

This is just a small list of the best Jeskai Commanders I think represent and will win a lot in these colors. I can imagine that I miss some, that you will let me know. Of course, feel free to comment if you agree or disagree about the list. If you would like to read a specific article, please let us know.

You can also read about best Abzan commanders here, and make sure to keep an eye for the next color combination Mardu.

Stay safe, have fun, and go for wins with your Jeskai deck.