EDH: 10 Best Commanders of Phyrexia: All Will be One

Phyrexia: All Will Be One brought us a wave of new cards, for all formats, in addition to mechanics such as Toxic, oil counters, and Phyrexian mana. And many of these new features can and should play in the official casual format: Commander. And here we are to show you the 10 best commanders in the set!

Each creature mentioned will have the detailed reason for being in that position, showing some synergistic cards from each deck. The top 3 will be entitled to a decklist.

Phyrexia gave us a total of 28 legendary creatures, and many of them fascinating for Commander, such as the cycle of five Dominus, each with a characteristic effect of its respective color.

In the tenth position, we have Skrelv, Defector Mite. This iconic mite quickly conquered the community, as much for its abilities as for its artistry and identity. Making your commander on the first turn is a privilege for few, and Skrelv is no exception. It's not very often that players have a creature to cast on the first turn, so it's possible to infect your opponents with poison counters pretty early on.

The disadvantage of the Skrelv deck is that it is limited to only one color, and therefore there aren't many options for creatures with toxic or infect, or even cards with proliferate. And unfortunately, white isn't the best color for drawing cards either. For that reason, Skrelv is in the tenth position.

This deck can count on great options like Skrelv's Hive, guaranteeing one creature per turn, White Sun's Twilight, to deal with possible threats, and features like Grateful Apparition, Norn's Choirmaster and Contagion Clasp or even Glistening Sphere to proliferate the poison counters.

Throne of Geth is also very welcome, and token generators like Mite Overseer and Mirrex can feed it easily.

In ninth position, Karumonix, the Rat King. The rat tribe has been supported for a long time, with cards like Marrow-Gnawer, Piper of the Swarm, Ogre Slumlord, Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm, and Ratcatcher, which are even cards that fit in a Karumonix deck.

A great difficulty of EDH is to deal 120 or more damage, but Karumonix manages to reduce this race to 30, which is a huge advance, even more so considering that rats in Magic tend to have low costs, especially if it is built around Rat Colony or Relentless Rats.

And the deck can count on some rats that already have toxic or infect, like Ichor Rats, Septic Rats and Blightbelly Rat. Black also offers some cards with great interactions of poison counters besides creatures, such as Phyresis, Vraska's Fall, Drown in Ichor and Infectious Inquiry, Tainted Strike, Virulent Wound and Phyresis Outbreak.

The black color alone is strong in Commander, but it struggles with dealing with enchantments and artifacts. Another defect of this deck is depending perhaps even a little too much on the commander to finish off your opponents quickly, so any removal in Karumonix hinders our game plan too often.

Phyrexia: All Will Be One brought us the cycle of five Dominus, and the white one is Mondrak, Glory Dominus, which ranks eighth. Mondrak is basically an Anointed Procession with a body and can become indestructible thanks to its ability. A tokens deck that guarantees an army against your opponents feels almost tailor-made for it.

As a commander who has the ability to become indestructible and double the number of tokens and still in white, we have great cards for the archetype, such as Oketra's Monument, the aforementioned Mite Overseer, Defiler of Faith, Halo Fountain, Finale of Glory, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Felidar Retreat, Call the Coppercoats and Secure the Wastes.

This is all aside from great defense recursions or direct interactions with tokens such as Divine Visitation, the aforementioned White Sun's Twilight, Intangible Virtue, Hour of Reckoning, Martial Coup and Grand Crescendo.

Mondrak faces the same problem as Skrelv, which is its color limitation. Access to another color like green would already make a huge difference in several aspects, such as granting evasion.

Not having many cards to draw cards like Skullclamp slows down this play style, and maybe some high costs are also a hindrance in a more advanced game, in the decision to make, for example, few spells for recursion or a spell with a heavier cost for better use of the mana curve.

In our seventh place we have Ovika, Enigma Goliath. A great legendary creature for Izzet color matching in a spellslinger deck. A deck very similar to Talrand, Sky Summoner. Despite its high mana cost, Ovika offers a great reward in staying on the battlefield for those piloting its deck.

We have some spells called rituals, which are mana generators (being a direct reference to Dark Ritual), such as Seething Song and Mana Geyser, to try to cast the commander as soon as possible, in addition to Brightstone Ritual, we have Battle Hymn and Skirk Prospector. Even though Skirk Prospector isn't a ritual, it's a great mana generator here.

These generators help to cast cards like Pull From Tomorrow and Blue Sun's Zenith for a high number, or a Cyclonic Rift to ensure the game is in control. Some more expensive additions that could be considered that make sense in the deck are Mana Drain, Force of Will and Fierce Guardianship, to ensure the commander stays in play.

This deck can count on several ways to advance the commander, which even serve as a token creator even after the commander is on the field, Big Score, Unexpected Windfall, Seize the Spoils and Pirate's Pillage, being great treasure token generators and also creating three to four goblins.

And speaking of goblins, why not add Krenko, Mob Boss, to make even more tokens? The more, the better! As Ovika is somewhat similar to The Locust God, cards like Impact Tremors, Witty Roastmaster and Purphoros, God of The Forge are welcome and strong to deal damage to all your opponents simultaneously.

Ovika's disadvantages are that its high cost hinders the beginning of the game. Piloting this deck is knowing that Ovika will enter the table early in a few times, so controlling the early game in your favor is essential to develop your board in the middle and late game. However, there will be situations where it is not possible to deal with everything on the table at the same time.

Despite the blue color offering the famous bounces, which return permanents and spells to the owner's hand, there are few interactions with enchantments in this color combination. It is good to pay attention to these details.

In sixth place we have another Dominus, and this time it's Solphim, Mayhem Dominus. A very aggressive deck, which has great cards for direct damage and even finishers. Again, a creature that manages to become indestructible by itself, added to its ability to double non-combat damage that represents a lot of what red does, makes Solphim an excellent choice for the classic Mono Red Burn on Commander.

Price of Progress and Sulfuric Vortex are essential in building this deck, along with cards that increase damage even more, like Mechanized Warfare and Torbran, Thane of Red Fell, and other cards that take advantage of the damage dealt, like Chandra's Incinerator and Brash Taunter. By the way, the combination of Brash Taunter with Blasphemous Act to deal 26 damage to an opponent is interesting and fun.

This deck can count on some finishers, like Heartless Hidetsugu to end the game for good by making opponents take damage equal to their life total, and even combos that don't need the commander, like All Will Be One and The Red Terror, which ends the game with infinite damage as soon as the first damage is dealt with those two cards on the battlefield.

The combination of Toralf, God of Fury and Chain Reaction with several creatures on the field or even a Star of Extinction are also viable options, and work well with Solphim.

There are fun options for this deck like Descent into Avernus and Manabarbs, which will speed up the game a lot. Creatures like Guttersnipe, Firebrand Archer, Zo-Zu the Punisher and Harsh Mentor will definitely annoy your opponents.

Like all Mono Red, enchantments and even creatures that are slightly higher than the damage you can deal will be your doom. Despite being a deck with high damage capacity and that works fast, removing your commander in response to some big damage with exile removals or bounces will disrupt the game, but nothing that isn't expected from the format. Lifegain can also be an issue.

In fifth place, Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus. A raw Mono Green, which needs no comment. Even though it costs seven mana, this won't be a problem for green. Dorks like Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves, or cards like Rampant Growth, Three Visits, Nature's Lore, Skyshroud Claim, Cultivate and Kodama's Reach will make managing high deck costs much easier.

A deck that basically just needs a lot of mana fast to make big creatures fast, and preferably with trample. Aggressive Mammoth, Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma, Nylea, God of the Hunt and Ghalta, Primal Hunger help a lot in this regard.

For even more violence, at our disposal are God-Eternal Rhonas, Thunderfoot Baloth and especially Unnatural Growth, to double the power of the creatures again and hit your opponents for huge chunks of damage. Bellowing Tanglewurm also grants great evasion.

Green offers an incredible range of cards that can be used with Zopandrel, such as Pathbreaker Ibex, Apex Devastator, Ulvenwald Oddity transformed into Ulvenwald Behemoth and so on. There are also great options for more raw mana generators, which help with both your mana and brute strength, such as Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger, Old Gnawbone, Nyxbloom Ancient and Regal Behemoth fulfill this role very well.

As stated before, a raw Mono Green. Big creatures, a lot of mana, a lot of damage, nothing more or less than that. Obviously, it's way beyond that, like card draws with Garruk's Uprising, Beast Whisperer. Rishkar's Expertise, Hunter's Insight and Momentous Fall.

Bordering our podium, Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres. Its color combination is definitely one of the strongest and most exploitable in Commander, combining the power of green with the control of blue. In the set, several cards were released that help the proliferate mechanic, such as the blue Dominus Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus, which works harmoniously with Ezuri as commander.

This deck can go into several routes, such as +1/+1 counters, planeswalkers, and poison counters. Even before Phyrexia: All Will Be One, there were several good cards to proliferate, such as Flux Channeler, Evolution Sage, Tezzeret's Gambit and mainly Inexorable Tide, and all fit into an Ezuri deck.

After the first poison counter is placed, it's a ticking time bomb for your opponents. The commander will cause fear already in the command zone due to his ability to proliferate twice. Tainted Observer, Prologue to Phyresis and Infectious Bite are the spark needed to start the countdown,

On +1/+1 counters, Rishkar, Peema Renegade Incubation Druid, Gyre Sage, Fathom Mage and Master Biomancer help a lot. And a great addition to the three lines would be a Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider, which will double the poison counters, +1/+1 counters, and loyalty counters on your planeswalkers, thus causing big problems for your opponents.

It is also possible to add an infinite turn combo with Magistrate's Scepter and Merfolk Skydiver or Viral Drake, proliferating enough on Magistrate's Scepter to grant an extra turn.

However, that much controlling power comes at a price, which would be to get a lot of attention from every player at the table. Having plenty of resources usually attracts the eyes of others, and too many people focusing on you at the same time is harmful (not only in this deck, but in any deck if it happens).

In third place, Atraxa, Grand Unifier. Atraxa has been making waves in all formats, and Commander is no exception. Although it seems expensive in mana cost, being seven mana for a 7/7 body with four abilities and offering one to seven cards (eight after March of Machines) in your hand doesn't seem like a bad deal. Not to mention its power being 7, which can guarantee an opponent dead in a few turns with 21 commander damage.

This Atraxa decklist is focused on the blink archetype, constantly looking for more and more resources, both with the creatures in the deck and with the commander.

It can be called a toolbox, as the creatures have different effects to help your game. We have resource recovery like Gloomshrieker, Eternal Witness, Karmic Guide, and Reveillark. The last two cards mentioned can make a combo if you'd like, just needing a sac outlet to start the infinite cycle.

However, within this decklist it is possible to see some combos that don't need to sacrifice, such as Peregrine Drake with Deadeye Navigator or Emiel the Blessed, which generate mana and infinite blink. As a finisher with infinite mana, you can steal all permanents on the field with Agent of Treachery, return all permanents and spells to their owners' hand with Venser, Shaper Savant, make infinite life and tokens with Thragtusk, or simply draw the entire deck with Spirited Companion, Baleful Strix or the commander herself and finish the game with Thassa's Oracle.

Even without going for a combo, there are interesting interactions like Archaeomancer and Ephemerate, allowing one blink per turn of anything in every upkeep. In addition, the three possible cards that have an additional effect of entering the battlefield are used, which are Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines. Yarok, the Desecrated and Panharmonicon.

The deck is very strong, but not invincible. You have to be careful when correcting the mana curve using fetch lands or ramps. Otherwise, you could have access to the wrong colors and just watch as the game unfolds. Thanks to the plethora of cards that Atraxa gives us, it is in third place in our top 10.

An underrated creature takes second place on the podium: Unctus, Grand Metatect. Despite not being very popular, Unctus is powerful enough to win the game in the blink of an eye without anyone even noticing.

Its ability to generate draw and discard for each other blue creature you control can fit easily in the combo line, such as with Aphetto Alchemist and Tidewater Minion.

Considering that a piece is already in the command zone, just look for what's missing through the draw and discard ability, which are the inishers: Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, Laboratory Maniac or Thassa's Oracle.

In addition to the pieces mentioned above, we also have Voltaic Construct, Pili-Pala, Fatestitcher, Kelpie Guide and Vizier of Tumbling Sands. It has a total of 8 counterspells to control the game, and also 4 cards for more defense, which are Cyclonic Rift, Devastation Tide, Perplexing Test and March of Swirling Mist. The decklist basically revolves around casting the commander, finding an engine that allows you to draw infinite cards, and then finishing the game.

The shortcoming of this deck is that it relies on the commander as a part of the combo. Removing him at the right moment makes the combo whiff Cards with effects similar to Sheoldred, the Apocalypse are also an issue. For the speed the deck can gain and generate draw value, Unctus ranks second.

In the top 1 occupying the very first place, we have the beloved Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines. Elesh Norn wins first place for being a very dangerous card in Commander, even more so in the command zone.

Taking resources from your opponents while you have more is a feature of the five praetors, in both versions, but Elesh Norn messes with something almost every deck has: entering the battlefield. This archetype is one of, if not the most common in Commander, and it is even possible to say that every deck has at least one creature that does something when entering the battlefield.

It is truly strong not only for cutting this effect off opponents, but also for adding one more effect for you. Both as one in 99 and in the Atraxa deck and as commander, Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines is a very strong card.

As mentioned before, the fact that your opponents are completely dependent on resources other than entering the battlefield is a big step forward for you and an even bigger setback for other players.

We have combos like Felidar Guardian with Restoration Angel, which allow infinite effect to enter the battlefield, triggering other pieces like Cathars' Crusade with +1/+1 counters, Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant with infinite life, and even any other effect if Preston, the Vanisher is in play.

And with Preston, the Vanisher, Felidar Guardian and Ephemerate, we have one more infinite mana combo:

> With Preston and Felidar Guardian on the board, cast Ephemerate, targeting the feline. Both triggers go up, choosing Felidar's first, target a land, and generate mana in response.

> Resolving Preston's trigger creates a copy of Felidar Guardian, and then the process is repeated, gaining access to infinite mana and exile from all nonland permanents. Cloudshift also works in this case.

> Several creatures can help end the game, such as drawing the whole deck with Wall of Omens and Spirited Companion, playing all lands with Solemn Simulacrum and triggering Felidar Retreat .

The Mother of Machines is powerful as her title, and precisely because she is strong in that way, she can be an easy target. Commander removals can disrupt the game a bit, but don't make it impossible. What can eventually get in the way is if someone else makes an Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines on the table or if they clone and/or steal your commander. Be prepared for these situations!

And that ends our top 10 best legendary creatures of Phyrexia: All Will Be One! Definitely a full plate forCommander player!

The 28 legendary creatures from the set were analyzed, and I think this was a very interesting and even disputed top 10. And you, do you agree with the positions? Do you think any creature should give up its spot to another? Is Atraxa stronger than Elesh Norn? Say it in the comments!