Magic’s Eminence Commanders Ranked From Weakest to Best

Magic: The Gathering has introduced two new commanders with the Eminence mechanic in recent sets, bringing the total number of commanders featuring this powerful ability to eight. Eminence is a unique mechanic that allows a commander to affect gameplay even while sitting in the command zone rather than on the battlefield, making these commanders exceptionally valuable for deck building.

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic technically predates the Eminence keyword by several years, having been printed in the Commander 2013 series before the mechanic officially existed. However, its final ability functions identically to Eminence: you gain two life at the beginning of your upkeep whether Oloro is in the command zone or on the battlefield. When cast, Oloro allows you to pay one mana to make opponents lose life while you draw a card, enabling powerful pillow fort strategies that slowly drain opponents over time.

Sahir, Visitor in Darkness arrives in Mystery Booster 3 as one of the newest Eminence commanders. This mono-black creature deals one damage to you at the beginning of your upkeep from either zone, and whenever you take exactly one damage or cast a spell dealing exactly one damage to yourself, Sahir gains a +1/+1 counter. If this ability triggers twice in a turn, you draw a card. The significant drawback is that Sahir loses all counters when leaving the battlefield, and repeated removal combined with commander tax makes this a high-maintenance option compared to other Eminence commanders.

Arahbo, Roar of the World leads cat-focused decks by giving target cats +3/+3 during combat on your turn, regardless of whether Arahbo is in play or in the command zone. When Arahbo is on the battlefield, you can pay three mana to pump a cat even further, allowing for token-based strategies or tall creature builds with trample and equipment synergies. While the Eminence ability is solid, the limitation to cats restricts its overall power level.

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist powers wizard-themed decks by creating token copies of nontoken wizards that enter the battlefield under your control. You pay one generic mana per wizard to create a haste copy that exiles at the next end step, generating significant value through repeated entries. Additionally, you can tap five wizards to deal five damage to an opponent, breaking through board stalemates. This commander synergizes with established wizard themes in Magic and provides multiple avenues for damage and card advantage.

Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir excels in knight decks by allowing you to draw a card and discard a card whenever you attack with one or more knights, whether Sidar is in the command zone or on the battlefield. This card filtering helps you pitch unneeded knights while digging for better options. Once Sidar enters play, it can reanimate discarded knights whenever it deals combat damage to a player, creating a recursive advantage engine.

The Ur-Sphinx represents an intentional design parallel to The Ur-Dragon but focuses on the much smaller sphinx creature type. It reduces the colorless mana cost of all sphinxes by one from the command zone and causes attacking sphinxes to mill each player equal to the number of attacking sphinxes. You may then cast a spell each player milled without paying its cost. While powerful on paper, the sphinx creature pool contains fewer than 90 options compared to hundreds of dragons, making sphinx decks feel one-dimensional despite being led by a formidable 10/10 flyer.

Edgar Markov stands as the premier vampire commander, creating a 1/1 vampire token for every vampire spell you cast, even if that spell is countered. This guarantees value from every vampire in your deck. Edgar Markov also grants all vampires you control a +1/+1 counter whenever they attack, quickly overwhelming opponents. With built-in first strike and haste, Edgar Markov can pump and attack immediately upon entering play, generating exponential value that most players struggle to contain.

The Ur-Dragon remains the gold standard for Eminence commanders. While in the command zone or on the battlefield, it reduces the generic mana cost of dragon spells by one, allowing your dragon army to arrive earlier than expected. Once The Ur-Dragon enters play, whenever any dragon attacks, you draw a card for each attacking dragon and put a permanent card from your hand directly into play. This ability generates such explosive acceleration that games often become unrecoverable for opponents. Though Y'shtola, Night's Blessed from the Final Fantasy crossover has become the most popular commander overall, The Ur-Dragon's power level remains evident in its premium Commander 2017 precon, one of Magic's most expensive releases.