As TappedOut only allows 500 cards per list, I have here the 2 other lists I had to make in order to fit all of the other cards.
You can find Part 2 here
You can find part 3 here
There is one card missing: Nira, Hellkite Duelist. It is an incredibly rare card only given to Wizards employees. It would be in Tier 2. I did not include 1996 World Champion because it is covered in lucite and would be very difficult to play.
How to Judge a Commander: Impact and Applicability
The following list has been carefully curated and updated over the past several years. It is as reactive as I can make it, but it is not a perfect list. I would certainly appreciate feedback for a given Commander, and possibly why you feel it deserves a different ranking. It tries to be changed at least annually and preferably with each new set of Legendary Creatures.
Each card was placed for its value as a Commander and the decks it CAN be in. We all know a good pilot can make anything better. We also know that some deck construction has more value than others, but I tried to get an aggregate for each. This is the value of them as a Commander, if they have a strong ability and do they have some synergy that others cannot provide that makes them strong.
We all have a meta and we all come from a meta. I know the first few drafts of this list were meta based for sure. I have had friends pilot Johan, Ragnar and Halfdane which wiped the floor with me. I have been given a rock solid Azami deck and failed miserably, despite her being a titan in the game. We all have similar stories, if we recognize it or not. I'm not here to debate that.
However, please note that nothing here is fixed. Their places can be changed, and invariably will with each new set. Not all, or even a majority, but some. If you see a card that doesn't fit in its rank because a new card outshines it, let me know. I do not claim to be omniscient, and things slip past me. I love this list, and revising it is a big part.
The ditribution of my list has proved to be baffling to the overwhelming majority of people. I have divided my rankings into Ranks 1-7. Tier 1 is considered the best among commanders, while Tier 7 is the worst. Tier 1-2 is typically above average, Tie 3-4 is the fun bulk and Tier 5-7 is cards that would be a challenge to have a win as the head of the deck. A good deck does not mean a good commander, as I will hopefully show.
These then are divided into a statistical distribution of 5% Tier 1, 7.5% Tier 2, 17.5% Tier 3, 30% Tier 4, 17.5% Tier 5, 7.5% Tier 6 and 5% Tier 7. It is in sticking to this that I often am forced to choose to weed cards out of one category to another. It is often why some cards do seem out of place, but it is needed to keep the bell curve relatively intact.
The typology of strats does matter, and I take it into deep consideration. There are many different strats that can be used, but one thing always seems to hold true: Being good at a Voltron strategy is always considered to be one of the worst strats. Unless the commander is particularily useful in that respect (Skithryx) or comes with other abilities (Ruric Thar, the Unbowed) it will probably be a Tier 4 or lower Commander.
I judge Commanders upon the followin criteria, which has been proven to place in tiers. There is no objective numerical value placed on any of these criteria, as that would be incredibly labor intensive.
First to be considered is mana-cost: As a rule of thumb, more than 6 is a detriment unless there is a cost reducing measure. Having more than 1 mana symbol in the casting cost has much the same effect, unless mono colored. Dubs or Trips in one color is much better than it being in two or three. The more colors, the better and in this order: Blue, Green, Black, White, Red. Color idenity decided by rules text and not casting cost is considered the best possible outcome.
Second is keywords: Each Legendary creature with UNHOLY exception has some ability or keyword. A creature with keyword soup, a.k.a a bunch of keywords is not in and of itself useful. Some combo's have value: first strike and deathouch, vigilance and reach, any unblockable variant, flying and haste, double strike and trample, and the penultimate indestructible and hexproof. Some keywords make cards worse: defender, Echo, Fading, Islandhome, cumulative upkeep, Vanishing and sometimes shroud. There are exceptions to this, but not many. However, with lacking an ability, keywords matter very much but often are just fundamentally worse because it leads to Voltron or Highlander strats. Synergy with abilities makes the keywords have value beyond their basic rules, but often only make things moderately better. Again, there are exceptions, such as Medomi, the Ageless and Wrexial, the Risen Deep, but they do not place very high either.
Third is Ability: In commander, this is the part that matters. With the wide area to play with, there is no lack of variation. This is why Commander can exist as a format. There are two areas which need to be evaluated: the overall impact of the ability to the board state, and who can benefit from the ability. Can the ability be used as it is played? If it's an ETB ability, to what extent can it affect the board state? If its a triggered ability, how easy is it to trigger and is it beneficial? If its an activated ability, does it require a tap? Is it mana intensive? How much of an impact does it have to the board-state? Is it a unique ability, with it belonging to them alone? What is the combo potential? How long does it take to see returns? These are all questions that are asked, and the type and quality of the answer gives where it can lay on the rankings. The perfect ability would be able to be used multiple times in a turn, have no downside to its ability, drastically alter the board state in your favor alone, greatly disadvantage your opponents and have no consistent strat to beat it. Only a step above this would be "0: You win the game. This ability cannot be countered and ignores 'You cannot win the game' effects." The literal perfect ability. In here you could place the tribes a commander is in, because tribes only function in synergy.
Last is Power/Toughness: Quite possibly the least important thing on any given commander card, it does hold some value. Two identical creatures, except one is a 1/2 and the other is a 1/4, you would always pick the 1/4. The general rule of thumb is power is nice, toughness is better. This is because you want to ensure that you survive removal and, with some luck, maybe give a block. The best Commanders have a fat butt, with many just being symmetrical. This primarily matters in the lower tiers, 4 and lower, and can have a significant effect because there is where Voltron is able to count. Keywords and abilities can interact with this, but it is unlikely to be useful. Exception can go out to having power 1 and deathtouch, which is perfectly acceptable.
The Final Question: Do you need this commander? Is this very card the one you would place as the best for your deck strat, with them being either required or enhancing the strat beyond what the base deck can provide? If you say yes, congrats, it is typically a highly ranked card. Sometimes it is debatable, but then you ask "can my commander hold a back-up strat? Can it be used in multiple ways, and function highly in each?" If yes, then amazing.
None of this is to say you NEED to have the optimum Commander. It just means that you have to be a good pilot. The highest ranking cards are often useless in the hands of a bad pilot. But the highest ranking commanders are also consistent, with all of the mono-colored commanders being in blue to draw into answers and have control. Others either have black for the non-conditional tutoring, the Commanders are tutors in and of themselves or they provide a lock on the game that most decks cannot recover from easily.
Every top deck can provide a consistent performance. This performance is often priced out, and not viable for most. The best Scion deck is wicked expensive, no matter how cool Dragons are. Mana Drain is almost required for a blue deck. Mana Crypt is much the same. I know I can't afford those things, but that doesn't mean the commander doesn't kick ass. Budget Karador is still Karador, and at similar priced tables it will be the boggyman. But budget Karador will lose, with assurance, to non-budget Karador every time. It's just the nature of the game; remove luck and all you have is assurance.
I. Am. Not. Insulting. Your. Commander. If you have a Ketaro, the Smiling Cat EDH and you love that deck, all the power to you. That doesn't mean Bushido is a great ability, or that his ability really means anything in a mono-colored deck. He's not a good Commander when compared to most, but I will gladly play against you and I am sure you will have a good time with your deck. You are allowed to have your own deck, like that deck and play that deck even if it is a Tier 5 or lower. If you think that card deserves a higher ranking, contact me and let me know. But your response needs to be on a higher level than "I don't like it being that low", or "I believe it's better than that". Give me reasons, thought out and using the criteria I provided and I can change my mind. I have said multipe times that this list isn't concrete. It changes and I would love to be aware of personal oversight, as this list is currently only curated by me. A solid question I have gotten is "Why isn't Jace, Vryn's Prodigy a Tier 1?" and that person gave me reasons why he is awesome, to which I have an answer but it came down to a statistics judgement call as to his placement. A bad question was "I play Heidar, and he wins all the games I play. How can you place him so low? Are you an idiot?". That was the whole question, no explaination. I didn't entertain him, as that isn't a question which has merit. It is personal and has no evidence to why I should consider making him higher (which he doesn't need to be).
I posted the old version of this list once, on Reddit, and I took it down soon after because I received some of the most vitriolic comments over me not knowing about Tazri Food Chain. Please keep any comments civil and keep to something tangible. Criticisms are welcome, but insults are not. Many of those comments in that thread made me make a better list, some just made me regret posting it. Be kind folks, we all love this game and anything that provides something people can like to enhance it should be embraced. This is a conversation piece, first and foremost.
As an example, we will take an Tier 1 card and subject it to this scrutiny. The oldest contender on this list, and a card that has a firm spot at the top, is Captain Sisay.
Mana Cost: Two colors, with only one symbol each. Cost is cheap, with total CMC being 4. She is in the colors of Green and White, making her have the access to thebest ramp and removal.
Keywords: She has no keywords, and this is not to her detriment because she isn't combat focused. Has no inherent protection.
Ability: It cannot be used immediatey, and it is unlikely to be hastened. It is a repeatable tap ability, only once per turn without external help, but green and white excel at untapping, only next to blue. The ability is a conditional tutor with a reveal, but novel to this card alone. The condition of Legendary is not much of a restriction, and a no-cost tap leaves the ability open to consistency in strategy and versatilty in dealing with problems, as wel' as setting up combo's. Placing the card into handallows the player to hold politics if required rather than having an "all in" strategy, however it telegraphs plays and allows opponents to react to the play and prepare. It is open to versatility, having multiple strats it can use and a wide variety of deck constructions.
Power/Toughness: A 2/2 is nothing to write home about. It lacks the ability to block most things, has almost no attack value. It dies to any damage-based removal.
Applicability: Yes, this card is central to its strat and only works to enhance it in every way. It is not required, the deck CAN work without her, but its effectiveness and consistency take a severe hit.
Decision: Captain Sisay is a versatile and powerful tutor, that can only get more powerful as time goes on. She provides consistency and 2 colors, while restricting her toolbox, gives enough options to be considered efficicent. She is among the best toolbox Commanders, and her ability is powerful. However, she is not in the colors that can protect her and has no inherent protection in the form of keywords, abilities or sufficient toughness. Overall, she is among some of the strongest and most versatile toolbox Commanders. She firmly sits in Tier 1.
Last edited April 28th, 2018
Flip
