Top 5 Most Underrated Commanders From 2023

[@DizzyDabbs]

Anim Pakal has sneaked to becoming one of my favorite decks. Happy to see her get some light in this video, go gnomes!

[@ScarletSky155]

It's one of my strongest decks of the year honestly, I love her so much

[@vernfrenzel7824]

Crack-Gnomes are fun

[@TryphectaOG]

I'm a Tetzin guy myself, but Anim is one of my favorites in my 99

[@iPokemonAi]

Never heard of it til now, thanks!

[@pauldyson8098]

Glad to see your boy Inti on the list. Gylwain, howewer, is easily my favorite commander of the year. You did him justice in the video; here are two more dope things you can do with him: -Composer of Spring and Kodama of the East Tree (big kodama) can pop off if you have Setessan Champion or similar in play. -Jaheira lets you tap role tokens for mana. Great video as always!

[@Cyberium]

Gylwain is one of my favorite commander this year, with synergy to enchantment, aura, and tokens.

[@danielcharlebois1626]

Glad to see Anim Pakal on the list. I've been brewing a deck with her for a little while and got to test it over the weekend. My pod didn't realize how powerful she was until they got their faces smashed by my gnome hoard. It can go big (Anim will get lots of +1/+1 counters), it can go wide (lots of gnomes) and it can burn (impact tremors, goblin bombardment). It is really fun to play!

[@conker1847]

11:55 Isn't Gandalf the White an ETB trigger doubler, while Moira triggers on casts so you don't get double reanimation?

[@JayoticMTG]

Yeah Gandalf doesn’t trigger M&T twice, but if you reanimate a legendary permanent, its ETB triggers get doubled

[@lokumo13]

@@JayoticMTG or it allows you to cast the historic spell at instant speed which is a nice little trick

[@blakecarter1867]

Tomer we need a Moira and Teshar budget brew!! A Gylwain brew would be awesome to see as well!

[@andrueurbane7361]

Great Picks! I built a Legolas deck. I usually play at higher power tables and it does win, but not more than its share. It is always fun to play and very interactive. You are doing lots of stuff every game. Play more ramp than you might expect, as you will likely be casting Legolas from the command zone 2-3 times per game even with a decent protection plan.

[@jameelkurabi]

Do you mind sharing a list if you have one?

[@greendemon126]

I still can't believe how few Inti decks are on edhrec, not to mention that so many decks also want him in the 99. Here are some of my favorite underrated commanders from this year. Danitha, New Benalia's light - equipment and aura reanimator in unique colors for self mill. Radagast the Brown - kinda like guardian project in the command zone with a fun deck building challenge Arni Metalbrow - another criminally underrated mono-red commander Bill the Pony - he's a very good boy. And he comes with snacks.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

I do see Inti being far more popular as a 99 card for almost any looting deck versus going with it as your Commander. I think a lot of players just prefer more of an Izzet or Rakdos commander to head up their looting decks.

[@lucaslehn2242]

Inti was literally the first EDH deck I built, so I’ve been refining it, and boy it’s fun. Gamble is broken in it with containment construct, conspiracy theorist, or library of leng Cast Ragavan, Inti, and Jeska’s will on curve and have fun trying to beat that start. Jeskas will, wheel, and underworld breach is the most fun wincon

[@avelchong]

I have a Legolas, Master Archer enchantress deck, his is a cast trigger; so the bite or fight spell will resolve AFTER his initial "arrow shot" ! And yeah, I agree he is soooo underrated. He is kinda strong, removal on a body. :)

[@frosty980]

My favorite commander of 2023 has been Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink. Can create explosive turns that end the game out of nowhere with a haste enabler and no one really respects his ability compared to most other commanders you’ll run into. Plus I love that the deck just plays all my favorite etb creatures and doesn’t rely exclusively on Orthion, the commander just serves as an accelerant.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

Orthion feels like WotC just rebalanced Kiki Jiki. Kiki Jiki is for the Spike player where Orthion is designed more for the Timmy player.

[@Shimatzu95]

@@Dragon_Fyre honestly unless you combo they are just fine, that said he is a verry interesting one to play and a great 99 card if you have access to populate effects.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

@@Shimatzu95 When is Kiki Jiki ever in a deck not to combo ? 😇

[@Shimatzu95]

@@Dragon_Fyre when you dont play with any combos, like me. Think of it like red "blink", there is enough value options around you dont always have to "break" the game.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

@@Shimatzu95 The discussion was regarding Commanders though… blink archetype requires White or Blue (there are Artifacts but nothing I would reliably refer to as playing Red blink). I think Kiki Jiki would just be a bad card to play as a Commander unless you combo, because everyone will just assume you are trying to combo, so you are arch-enemy (unless there is something even worse). I think that would probably be the best reason to play Orthion over Kiki Jiki is to signal that it’s a much lower power deck.

[@representativejoints1188]

Worth running Shimmer Myr and/or Urza's BattlThopter to the Teshar deck. Flash is just so good, which is why I keep telling my friend to play instants as instants and not sorceries. Reanimating big artifacts at insant speed by throwing down a mana rock is so satisfying. The Myr and thopter fit right in that 3 cmc creature Teshar zone.

[@redmangoose182]

Those last 2 are great mentions! Its crazy how so many commanders get overlooked. But there’s an excess nowadays, so it does make sense.

[@sharkudi]

Ioreth of the Healing House has less than 90 decks on EDHrec. Turns out that untapping 2 legendary creatures from the command zone can be pretty busted... Also, Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar. Having immunity from spells on your turn leads to wins out of nowhere. Plus, drawing up 3 cards extra per turn is a extra bonus in Selesnya.

[@mrsilverbutton7786]

Great, Tomer. I wasn't looking at Moira and Teshar for my Orzhov rep but now I MIGHT

[@codyarrington7693]

I have both an Anim and Inti deck. Both are super powerful. I actually put Inti into all my decks with red in them. He just does it all. Card advantage and gives a bump in power and trample. Beautiful.

[@KeenanPayne]

Dang, Moira and Teshar is sweet! Thanks for finding some hidden gems 💎

[@abzodolba473]

Moira & Tesshar synergy really well with abdel adrian to blink all of them, then you can blink abdel if you want to countinue using him. I usually play Moira & Tesshar as combo deck that only cast them when you ready to go infinite.

[@salsathe4th]

Plargg and Nassari is an underrated commander because people see the drawback and say it's too much. However, you can play spells that benefit a single player slightly like demonstrate cards or humble defector to bargain/politic with a player to let you choose which spells you get to cast for free. OG Etali relies on combat and can whiff on lands and hard to have other mana up for trigger copying effects but with plargg and nassari you can play your lithoform engine or strionic resonator before playing your commander and you will have mana to activate them when P&N triggers.

[@tomerabramovici32]

They're great yeah!

[@Dragon_Fyre]

I generally underestimate most Aura commanders unless I expect a combo. The exception being Eriette because she doesn’t have the standard weakness where opponents can use one removal spell to address two or more of your spells. I do not consider a Commander like Light Paws to be relevant to this type of discussion either as those Tutor/Aura Commanders only do one thing… they play like Krenko. There is no overestimating or underestimating because they do precisely what you expect them to do.

[@hellstocker7707]

Treebeard and Legolas are my two favorite decks now!

[@jaumetejeroambrosio4411]

Gylwain is quite surprising considering he was the secondary commander of a pretty strong precon. So strong most of the recomendations already come in the deck

[@danieldragotti2608]

A nice tech I have for anim is dragon throne of Tarkir.

[@nihilisticspacelizard1868]

I literally made my Inti deck yesterday! You can’t just give away my janky budget commanders like this!

[@CDShap]

Anim Pakal is the commander of my Brawl deck on Arena. The deck goes fast and is great for a one on one format. I can see it drawing a lot of hate in a multiplayer game though.

[@Njzeo]

Anim has been showing up at tables at every shop I’ve gone too

[@TheDylls]

My main is Edgar Markov, so I DEFINITELY know something about underrated commanders... (But actually, my back-up is Pirate tribal Pirate Ship haha)

[@Metroid23456]

Gylwain has been an all star in the 99 in my Yoshimaru legends deck. Giving every creature ward 1 off the royal role may not seem like much, but its just so annoying for everyone at the table that often my creatures get away with it.

[@rileykwinn3527]

I’m a huge fan of jerren, corrupted bishop. It’s not super great, but if you flip it the coolness factor to my Johnny brain is almost better than winning

[@ajaxender12]

(says he won't say what happened in the Commander Clash with Inti) (immediately shows some certain cards that may have had an impact in said Commander Clash) Haha in any case it was a great showcase for Inti. All of these seem fun, except for playing Legolas like that (still fun for you, depends how the other players are able to handle it)

[@PALIGames]

Gylwain is very strong if built correctly, it supports both the go wide and voltron separately or together, Anim Pakal was by far my favorite deck to built in 2023. it is very fun.

[@hanschristopherson8056]

The first time I played gylwain I told my opponents that I thought it was pretty strong, one of my opponents pulls out an un upgraded precon, I guess he wasn’t listening, after I won that player was like oh that commander is pretty busted, and I was like I told you it was lol

[@mr.wafflesrz1137]

The problem with Moira and Tesharnis that you exile what you reanimate compared to Henzie who just sacrifices

[@FunnyGorillaHaha]

Everyone gets annoyed with Moira and Teshar because everything just refuses to die. I know this because I am often told this when I play them 😅

[@SethG27]

Would love to see your take on gylwain

[@Spoe9922]

I personally love totentanz as an aristocrats commander. So much Rakdos ping. Or it could be built with a much heavier focus on rats.

[@bryanstevens7021]

I put extruder in my anim deck. Sac all the gnomes and if she's unblocked theyll be taking some big damage

[@playingchixken7617]

list for that Gargos deck??

[@lancearmada]

You said anim pakal so i gave the like 😎

[@shaw6662]

The Legolas idea sounds super cool. Is this a deck that you built and have a list for?

[@michaelpohl9077]

Inti is mono red greatness

[@teferitoots8043]

Tomer, what kit is that?

[@AzoriusCub]

Gylwain is soooooo good I love him so much. Way better than people give him credit for

[@DMCDCW]

As a fellow Kaldra enthusiastic. In which commander deck would you add the shield, sword and helmet?

[@tomerabramovici32]

If you are looking just to win with Kaldra as quickly and consistently as possible, Arcum Daggson. That's the only commander I've pulled it off 2/2 attempts. Personally I run it in Akiri, Fearless Voyager, but I don't rush for it.

[@DMCDCW]

Thanks for the insight!@@tomerabramovici32

[@grasshopper1153]

Cool video. I enjoyed it.

[@JalebJay]

Only one I've built is a Duggin maro tribal. Just play 4 mana 7/7s that get bigger as you draw more and more cards.

[@rosavanopheusden5211]

great picks, but I don't love that all of these are in the "my deck does nothing if my commander isn't on the field" category

[@Dragon_Fyre]

Most of these can easily be cast several times though due to their low CMC.

[@lucaslehn2242]

That would be a good point if that were even true

[@lunareclipse1882]

Gilwain with eidolon of countless battle goes brrr

[@ThatOneSomethingg]

Correction: Moira and Teshar were released in March of the Machine Commander, not All Will Be One

[@wafflezorz1]

Tomer don’t miss, he don’t miss.

[@davixoff8337]

The baulrog during s bane . Sooo underated!and I absolutely hate rakdos colour!!!I build it with zero staples so no ring no signet chaos warp eccetra. Of course I did put sacrifice staples all removals and ramps are very unconventional and it s still kicking ass! The baulrog people!

[@lokumo13]

These are great, thanks Tomer. Worth mentioning that 4/5 of these commanders were released in the second half-closer to the end of it- of 2023, so that probably plays a role but some definitely got extremely overshadowed by some of the other commanders released in their respective sets. 1-Legolas-I fully hear you on the Gargos comparison. I wanted to buld a Gargos deck but wasn't sure about it. The fact that Legolas goes tall rather than wide is also interesting. 2-Gylwain-Definitely sounds like a fun Selesnya creatures matter deck. Mine atm is Hamza with +1/+1 counters but have to look into this one as well since auras can be more flexible. 3-Anim Pakal-Gives me similar vibes to my Otharri deck atm, but definitely can be more explosive but a bit less resillient at the same time. Will give it a crack though so I can have a list for it. 4-Teshar and Moira-I've thought about building this duo since I don't own an Orzhov deck atm, and while my Gandalf the White deck scratches my historic itch, this one also being a reanimator deck is exciting. I saw a gameplay video on Muddstah's channel and it ABUSED Archon of Cruelty like no other... 5-Inti-Seems too glass cannon-y for me. One that goes off if it can spin the wheels, but also might end up sitting there in topdeck mode doing not much tbh so I might stay away from this one. Great in the 99 of some decks though!

[@amatheuslc]

Inti showed up pretty well on Commander Clash. It's a surprisingly good card advantage engine.

[@Nrdyco]

I run Inti in the 99 of my Laelia for the exile and for the giving trample/evasion for Laelia. Make her bigger and getting thru easier

[@lucaslehn2242]

I think Laelia is better in the 99 of Inti

[@Nrdyco]

@@lucaslehn2242 my Laelia deck is built around Voltron/desperate draw so I like my Laelia deck. I think I would have to change the deck too much to make Inti worm

[@lucaslehn2242]

@@Nrdyco Fair enough, a lot of the cards are fairly interchangeable, voltron isn’t really my thing, but you can abuse discover with 1 CMC cost things with Laelia Also consider Ore-Rich Stalacite from Lost Caverns. 2 cmc red artifact taps for red but can only cast instants/sorceries but craft it with 4+ instants/sorceries and flip it, and you can cast the crafted spells without paying their mana cast from exile, so you exile the cards from your graveyard triggering Laelia’s ability, then you cast the cards from exile so it works well with Passionate Archeologist or Nalfeshnee or Delayed Blast Fireball

[@representativejoints1188]

If you ever run sundial have fun abusing land etbs. I love playing a bounce land with no costs, other than playing the land at end of turn.

[@WiLDRAGE777]

Anim Pakal might be the most underrated card of 2023.

[@matthewsaustin88]

Moria and Teshar budget brew when?

[@oscarsgc8664]

Commander Neyali; Anim Pakal + Anduril = More, and more powerfull tokens.

[@manachamber]

Love me an understate l underrated commander

[@alasanof]

Is it truly the most underrated commander video if the comment suggesting it is the highest rated one?

[@maybeisuckatlife]

Anim Pakal is just bad Otharri which is actually the most underrated commander of the year

[@amatheuslc]

Otharri has over 2k decks right now and is in the top 500 commanders, which isn't saying much, but there are like 200 new ones every year, so it's standing out in the crow. The infect precon just overshadowed the tokens one pretty bad,but Otharri managed to overtake the face card, Neyali, by a slight margin.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

There are several important difference between them. Most notably Otharri has to attack. Anim Pakal requires the player to attack with a non-gnome creature. They are similar but I think have very different vulnerabilities and tempo.

[@maybeisuckatlife]

@Dragon_Fyre Because Otharri has haste, they are more similar in tempo than you think and they are vulnerable in the same way, remove the commander before they attack to stop them. Otharri is way more resilient though because of experience.

[@Dragon_Fyre]

@@maybeisuckatlife Disagree. Anim Pakal functions by +1/+1 counters that you put on it. This allows you to go aggro much quicker (there are many ways to add this type of counter). Otharri gives the player experience counters. This is slower but far more resilient, because you cannot remove them. That is what I was referring to by the tempo. I think Otharri has a far greater # of strategies available to how you play it, including a control style of play, where Anim Pakal is rather aggro focused like a Krenko deck. I’d be surprised to see many play it any other way.

[@Bloody-Butterfly]

My favorite is Alela, Cunning Conquerer

[@Dragon_Fyre]

Alela would probably be in the Top 5 most popular Commanders of 2023, so definitely not underrated.

[@Bloody-Butterfly]

@@Dragon_Fyre Is it? I haven’t played anyone else using it. Most people I know are running Dinosaur and Eldrazi

[@Dragon_Fyre]

@@Bloody-Butterfly Pantlaza is at about 5,700 decks on EDHREC, and Alela is at 4,700.

[@c0barsm]

I was the 397th like, so close...

[@John_Doe742]

This guy sounds like kermit the frog

[@petersdarkheart]

I love watching Tomer talk about magic ✨🥰✨ He has such a cute mouth 👄

[@Tclark6199]

Legolas and his play patterns are awful. One mana fight spells, one mana protection spells. Nobody has a board and you just sit there. Absolutely miserable

[@ecoKady]

I have the Gargos deck Tomer was talking about and card draw can be a big problem. Sometimes you get Season of Growth early and no one Farewells. Then you're consistently drawing cards and rolling along. Or maybe you get a Rishkar's Expertise exactly when you need it to refill your hand. But much of the time, you're sitting there on turn 6 with one fight spell or protection in hand that doesn't cantrip. Its very much, I do a lot or I do nothing kind of deck. There's not much inbetween.

[@kitgar]

Ah.. that's only if you stick with that line.. add another synergy in auras to dictate the pace.. Totem armor auras, Hexproof auras and repeatables like Whip Silk and Rancor.. force them to play more to keep up and lookie lookie more to bitie! If they don't, well good luck, my archer is just getting bigger and harder to kill with those auras! 😂 Legolas works with Auras as playing those targets the creature you are attaching to 😊 You can check some of my legolas deck versions in mtgtop8.. small tourneys with my recent version are not posted sadly and currently on gaming hiatus for work 😅 Edit: grammar fix

[@tomerabramovici32]

@@ecoKady personally haven't had an issue with card draw in my list. My version runs all the "draw equal to power / damage dealt cards" for instant refills plus also incremental draw engines like gnarlback rhino, drumhunter, keeper of fables etc. The thing that really shuts down Gargos is Gargos dying a couple times. If there's sacrifice effects or simply the table bands together to spend all their removal at once, Gargos dies and I'm set way back.

[@rodrigpimenta]

First