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Can this card be your commander?

Most commanders are legendary creatures, though there are exceptions to every rule. A few other types of cards can lead a deck too.

By Pyrias Published October 10, 2026 Updated October 26, 2026: Updated our list of links.

The basic rule

In Commander, one card leads your deck. It starts the game in the , a space next to the battlefield, and you can cast it from there (rules 903.6 and 903.8).

Generally speaking, a card can be your commander if it is and it is a creature. Check the type line, which is the line of text across the middle of the card that says what kind of card it is. If it says both "Legendary" and "Creature", as in "Legendary Creature" or "Legendary Artifact Creature", the card can lead your deck as a commander.

Rule 903.3 allows two more kinds of legendary card: a Vehicle, and a Spacecraft with a and box printed on it. This same ruling allows a few other cards that say "can be your commander" in their own text.

Your chosen commander(s) also limits the colors of every other card in your deck. Each card has a : the colors of every mana symbol on it, including any in its rules text. Every card in your deck has to fit inside your commander's color identity (rules 903.4 and 903.5c).

Vehicles and Spacecraft

A Vehicle is an artifact that can become a creature for a while, usually when you tap your creatures to it (rules 301.7 and 702.122a). The Lunar Whale is a legendary artifact with the Vehicle type, so it can be your commander.

A Spacecraft is another kind of artifact. It only counts if it has a power and toughness box, the two numbers in the bottom corner of the card. Hearthhull, the Worldseed has one, so it qualifies. The Eternity Elevator has none, so it does not.

Planeswalkers that say so

A planeswalker is its own card type, not a creature, so most cannot lead a deck. A small group of them have an extra line that changes that. Daretti, Scrap Savant and Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury both end with "can be your commander."

On Oct 22, 2026, Scryfall listed 22 Commander-legal cards with that line, and every one of them is a legendary planeswalker.

Grist, the Hunger Tide is the odd one out. Its text says "As long as Grist isn't on the battlefield, it's a 1/1 Insect creature in addition to its other types." The official ruling on the card says this already works while you build your deck, so Grist can be your commander.

Two commanders at once

Some commanders let you pick a second one. These are called partner abilities (rule 702.124a). Rowan Kenrith says "Partner with Will Kenrith", so Will Kenrith and Rowan can lead one deck together.

"Choose a Background" works the same way (rule 702.124k). Wilson, Refined Grizzly can pair with a Background, a legendary enchantment such as Candlekeep Sage. A Background can never be your commander by itself. It can only lead alongside a commander that has "Choose a Background".

Double-faced cards: only the front counts

Some cards have a second face on the back. While you build your deck, and while it sits in your hand, your or the command zone, such a card has only its front face (rule 712.8a). So the front face decides whether it can lead your deck.

Invasion of Theros // Ephara, Ever-Sheltering has a Battle on the front, a card type that players attack. When it is defeated, you cast it again as Ephara, a legendary creature. The front is not a creature, so it cannot be your commander.

Elbrus, the Binding Blade // Withengar Unbound is the same. Its front, Elbrus, is a legendary , an artifact you attach to a creature. Only the back, Withengar Unbound, is a creature.

A legendary creature that is banned in Commander cannot be your commander, or be added anywhere in your deck. Griselbrand and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn are two examples.

Find more

Browse the commanders named here: Daretti, Scrap Savant, Grist, the Hunger Tide, The Lunar Whale, Hearthhull, the Worldseed and Wilson, Refined Grizzly.

In short, a legendary creature can lead your deck, and so can a few legendary Vehicles, Spacecraft and planeswalkers. Next, search any card in Discover and read its type line to see if it qualifies, or open one of these commander pages to see deck ideas and the cards that fit its colors.

Command ZoneThe area where your commander sits outside the game. It starts there, and returns there whenever it would die, be exiled, or go to your hand or deck. That is why neutralising a commander is often better than destroying it.Open the full glossaryLegendaryA word printed on some cards, as in Legendary Creature. Your commander is usually a legendary creature, and that is where the word matters most in Commander.Isamaru, Hound of KondaOpen the full glossaryPowerThe first of the two numbers in a creature's bottom-right corner. It is how much damage that creature deals when it fights or attacks.Open the full glossaryToughnessThe second of the two numbers in a creature's bottom-right corner. It is how much damage the creature can take in a turn before it dies. A creature whose toughness reaches zero dies immediately.Open the full glossaryColor IdentityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Kenrith, the Returned KingOpen the full glossaryCrewHow you drive a Vehicle. Tap any of your untapped creatures whose power adds up to at least the number after Crew, and the Vehicle becomes a creature until the end of the turn, so it can attack or block.Smuggler's CopterOpen the full glossaryLibraryYour deck once the game has started: the face-down pile you draw from. A card that says "search your library" lets you look through it for a card.Open the full glossaryEquipmentAn artifact you attach to one of your creatures to make it stronger or give it an ability. If that creature leaves, the Equipment stays on the battlefield, and you can move it to another creature by paying its equip cost.Swiftfoot BootsOpen the full glossary

Every Card in This Article

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printingThe same card can be printed in many sets. Each one is a printing, with its own art and price.CombosTwo or more cards that, put together, do something far bigger than either of them does alone, often ending the game on the spot. Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood are a well-known pair: together they drain every opponent to zero.Open the full glossaryCard SelectionImproves what you draw rather than how much: you look at the top few cards of your library and decide what stays on top. Ponder lets you rearrange the top three, Serum Visions lets you scry, and Consider lets you surveil. It makes your draws more reliable without giving you extra cards.Open the Card Selection pageEvasionAn ability that makes a creature hard to block, so its attacks reach the player. Flying, menace, landwalk and plain 'can't be blocked' are the common kinds.Open the Evasion pageVehicleAn artifact subtype that is not a creature until it is crewed. Crew N is an activated ability: tap any number of untapped creatures you control whose total power is N or more, and the Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn. The crewing creatures are only tapped: they are never sacrificed, they do not attack, and summoning sickness does not stop them from crewing. Smuggler's CopterOpen the Vehicle pageDrawDraws you extra cards. More cards means more choices every turn, and in a 100-card deck it is the main way to find the pieces you need. Rhystic Study, SkullclampOpen the Draw pageExtra Land DropLets you put down more than one land in a turn. The normal limit is exactly one, so this both accelerates your mana and switches on everything that triggers when a land enters play. Exploration, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Oracle of Mul DayaOpen the Extra Land Drop pageLife DrainAn opponent loses life and you gain that life from the same effect. Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat. It lets Aristocrats decks win without ever attacking. Every drain card is also tagged Life Gain; this tag is the part where the life comes out of somebody.Open the Life Drain pageMana SinkGives you somewhere useful to spend spare mana, usually through an ability you can activate again and again. Rogue's Passage, Mind StoneOpen the Mana Sink pageRampAn effect that accelerates your mana, giving you a reusable mana source beyond the usual one land per turn. Cultivate Rampant GrowthOpen the Ramp pageSacrifice PayoffRewards you whenever something is sacrificed, meaning put into the graveyard on purpose. The reward might be a +1/+1 counter, a card, or a drained opponent, and it is the reason a deck sacrifices its own creatures. Compare Sacrifice Outlet, the card that lets you sacrifice, and Death Trigger, which fires when a creature dies for any reason. Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, Mayhem Devil, Savra, Queen of the GolgariOpen the Sacrifice Payoff pageBig ManaProduces several mana at once from a single source, rather than the one extra mana most acceleration gives you. That surplus is what lets a deck cast something enormous far ahead of schedule. Compare Ramp, which is a reusable source you build up over time, and Burst Mana, which pays out once and is then gone. Cabal Coffers, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Savage VentmawOpen the Big Mana pageArtifact PayoffRewards you for having artifacts: counting them, triggering off them, or getting cheaper as you play more. Urza's Saga, Mox OpalOpen the Artifact Payoff pageLootingDraws and discards in the same breath. Faithless Looting, Frantic Search. It does not gain you cards. It improves the ones you have, and fills your graveyard on purpose, which is exactly what a reanimator card like Animate Dead wants.Open the Looting pageReanimationReturns a creature card from a graveyard straight to the battlefield, skipping its mana cost. That is why decks built around it put their biggest creatures into the graveyard on purpose. Named for Reanimate. Animate DeadOpen the Reanimation pageRecursionBrings cards back from the graveyard: to your hand, to the battlefield, or letting them be cast again from where they lie. Eternal Witness, Reanimate, VictimizeOpen the Recursion pageSelf-DiscardDiscards your own cards as a cost or an effect. Filling your own graveyard on purpose is the point: it feeds cards that bring things back, madness and channel abilities, and some cards are worth more there than in hand. Faithless Looting, Boseiju, Who EnduresOpen the Self-Discard pageReanimatorReanimator decks put big creatures into their own graveyard early, then bring them back onto the battlefield without paying their cost. It gets a huge creature into play far sooner than you could afford to cast it.Open the Reanimator pageCommander / Lieutenants MatterCards that get better while your commander is on the battlefield. Lieutenant is the keyword for it: those creatures gain a bonus as long as you control your commander.Open the Commander / Lieutenants Matter pageTarget RemovalRemoves a single chosen permanent by destroying it, exiling it or returning it to its owner's hand, however big it is. It is the precise answer to one problem, as opposed to a board wipe that hits everything. Damage and -X/-X can miss a big creature, so they are Damage Removal and -X/-X Removal instead. Swords to Plowshares, Beast WithinOpen the Target Removal pageToken EngineMakes tokens again and again rather than once. A token is a creature or other permanent created by a card, with no card of its own. Something that makes one token gives you a body; something that makes them every turn gives you a board you can keep rebuilding after it is cleared. Grave Titan, Bitterblossom, OphiomancerOpen the Token Engine pageToken MakerCreates one or more tokens. Different cards make very different ones: creatures Grave Titan, Treasures Smothering Tithe, Clues Tireless Tracker or Food Gilded Goose. This is one of our largest tags, so pair it with an archetype or theme when you are hunting a specific kind.Open the Token Maker pageCounter ManipulationAdds, moves or multiplies counters already on permanents. It works on any kind (+1/+1, loyalty, charge), so the same card can serve very different decks. Karn's Bastion, Doubling SeasonOpen the Counter Manipulation pageGraveyard PayoffRewards you for having cards in your graveyard, or uses them straight from there. Your graveyard is normally where cards go once they are finished with; these turn it into a second hand, and the fuller it is the better they get. Golgari Grave-Troll, SplinterfrightOpen the Graveyard Payoff pagePlaneswalker PayoffRewards you for having planeswalkers. A planeswalker is an ally that stays in play and uses one ability each turn by adding or removing loyalty counters. These cards protect your planeswalkers, give them extra loyalty, or let you use their abilities more often.Open the Planeswalker Payoff pageSelf-MillPuts cards from your OWN library into your graveyard on purpose. Milling means moving cards off the top of a library into a graveyard. Aimed at an opponent that is an attack; aimed at yourself it is setup, filling the graveyard for the cards that want to use what is in it. Stitcher's Supplier, Hermit DruidOpen the Self-Mill pageType ChangerAdds a type to permanents on top of the types they already have. Making everything an artifact or a land switches on cards that only interact with that type. Liquimetal Torque, Phyrexian MetamorphOpen the Type Changer pageGraveyard/Self-MillGraveyard decks fill their own graveyard on purpose, then play cards from it as if it were a second hand. Moving cards from the top of your own deck straight into the graveyard is called self-mill.Open the Graveyard/Self-Mill pageAikido / RedirectionTurns an opponent's own spell, ability or damage back on them. It changes the spell's target, copies it, or sends the damage somewhere else. Aikido is the community's name for it, borrowed from the martial art. Deflecting Swat, Narset's ReversalOpen the Aikido / Redirection pageDamage RemovalRemoves creatures by dealing damage to them rather than by destroying them outright. This includes fight cards, where your creature deals the damage. Damage only kills a creature if it at least equals its toughness, so it can miss the biggest ones, and it does not kill a creature that cannot be destroyed. Lightning Bolt, Rabid Bite, PyroclasmOpen the Damage Removal pageMini SweeperDeals a set amount of damage, or gives a set -X/-X, to every creature, and that amount is under 7. It clears out tokens and small creatures but leaves big ones standing, so it is not counted as a board wipe. Pyroclasm Anger of the Gods LanguishOpen the Mini Sweeper pagePartnerCan share the command zone with a second commander, giving the deck two color identities to combine. The varieties are Partner Thrasios, Triton Hero, Partner With Brallin, Skyshark Rider, Friends Forever Anara, Wolvid Familiar, Choose a Background Wilson, Refined Grizzly, and Doctor's Companion Rory Williams.Open the Partner pageRepeatable DamageDeals damage again and again rather than once. It comes from an activated ability you can use every turn, or a trigger that fires whenever something happens. Walking Ballista, Impact TremorsOpen the Repeatable Damage pageSpell CopyingCopies a spell or an ability. The copy is not cast, so it costs nothing extra and does not set off cards that care about casting a spell. Reverberate, Storm-Kiln ArtistOpen the Spell Copying pageStack InteractionActs while a spell is waiting to take effect: countering it, changing what it targets, or copying it. When someone casts a spell it waits on the stack, and every player gets priority, a chance to respond, before it happens. Counterspell, NegateOpen the Stack Interaction pageControlControl decks answer what everyone else plays, stopping spells and removing dangerous cards, then win slowly once they are in charge. Expect lots of removal, spells that cancel other spells, and extra card draw.Open the Control pageCost ModificationChanges what a spell costs to cast: cheaper for you, or more expensive for everyone. It is the broad family; Cost Reducer and Spell Tax say which direction a given card goes. Herald's Horn, Foundry InspectorOpen the Cost Modification pageCost ReducerMakes your own spells cheaper to cast. A discount every turn adds up faster than a single burst of mana. Herald's Horn, Foundry InspectorOpen the Cost Reducer pageHumility / Stat SettingSets creatures to a fixed power and toughness, or strips their abilities. It answers a threatening creature without destroying it, which matters against a commander: a neutralized one stays on the battlefield instead of going back to the command zone. Darksteel MutationOpen the Humility / Stat Setting pageSpellslingerRewards you for casting instants and sorceries, usually triggering each time you cast one. Storm-Kiln Artist, GuttersnipeOpen the Spellslinger pageSpellslingerSpellslinger decks cast lots of instants and sorceries, one-time spells, and play creatures that reward every spell you cast. Instants and sorceries take effect once and then go to your graveyard, and an instant can even be cast during another player's turn.Open the Spellslinger pageProtectionA creature with protection from something, like a color, is safe from anything with that quality. It cannot be damaged, enchanted or equipped, blocked, or targeted by it, and players remember the four with the word DEBT. It does not stop effects that neither target nor damage, like a board wipe that destroys every creature. ProgenitusOpen the Protection pageUncounterableThis card cannot be countered. Countering a spell stops it from resolving and puts it straight into the graveyard, so a spell that cannot be countered is going to happen no matter what an opponent is holding. This tag is about the card itself. A card that grants that protection to your OTHER spells is tagged Counter Protection instead. Allosaurus Shepherd, CounterfluxOpen the Uncounterable pageBackgrounds MatterBackgrounds are legendary enchantments that can join your commander in the command zone. Only a commander that says Choose a Background can take one.Open the Backgrounds Matter pageComboCombo decks hunt for a few specific cards that win the game on the spot once they are all together. Many repeat an action over and over without end, which players call an infinite combo; the rest of the deck searches for the pieces and protects them.Open the Combo pageETB PayoffRewards you whenever your permanents enter the battlefield. It either gives you something for each arrival or makes their 'when this enters' abilities happen twice. Impact Tremors, PanharmoniconOpen the ETB Payoff pageETB ValueDoes something useful the moment it arrives: an enter the battlefield ability, which players shorten to ETB. You keep that effect even if the card is removed straight afterwards, which is why these pair so well with flicker cards that make them enter again. Solemn Simulacrum, The One RingOpen the ETB Value pageEnchantment PayoffRewards you for casting or controlling enchantments, usually by drawing cards each time one enters. Sram, Senior Edificer, Eidolon of BlossomsOpen the Enchantment Payoff pageEnchantment TutorSearches your library for an enchantment card (or an Aura, an enchantment that attaches to something). Compare the broader Tutor tags, which say how wide a search is rather than what it finds. Zur the Enchanter, Enlightened Tutor, Idyllic TutorOpen the Enchantment Tutor pageTutorSearches your deck for a specific card. Because a Commander deck may only contain one copy of each card, a tutor is how you reliably find the exact one you need. See the Tutor tier tags for how broad each search is. Demonic TutorOpen the Tutor pageTutor - NarrowFinds a specific class of card: a subtype, a named card, an Equipment, or one capped by mana value. Steelshaper's Gift, Captain Sisay, Green Sun's Zenith.Open the Tutor - Narrow pageTypal PayoffRewards you for playing lots of one kind of creature. That includes "lords" that make every other Goblin or Merfolk you control bigger, and cards that ask you to choose a creature type and then pay you off for it. A creature type is the word on the middle line of the card, like Goblin, Elf or Zombie.Open the Typal Payoff pageGods / DevotionGods, and cards that count your devotion: the number of mana symbols of one color among the costs of your permanents. The Theros Gods cannot be destroyed, and only become creatures when your devotion to their color is high enough.Open the Gods / Devotion pageAura/EnchantressEnchantress decks fill the battlefield with enchantments and use cards that draw you an extra card every time you cast one. An Aura is an enchantment that attaches to something, usually a creature, and changes it.Open the Aura/Enchantress pageAlt-Win ConditionWins the game outright when its condition is met, instead of reducing opponents to zero life. It is worth building more than one way to win, because a deck resting on a single alternate win condition folds to one well-timed answer. Thassa's Oracle, Laboratory ManiacOpen the Alt-Win Condition pageCounter EngineAdds +1/+1 counters over and over rather than once. A counter here is a small permanent marker that raises a creature's power and toughness for good. It is not a counterspell, which is a different thing entirely. Something that adds them every turn makes your whole board bigger and keeps it that way. Hardened Scales, Corpsejack MenaceOpen the Counter Engine pageEquipmentAn artifact that attaches to one of your creatures and makes it stronger. You attach it by paying its equip cost, which you can only do during your own turn when nothing else is happening, so a new Equipment does nothing until you pay. It stays behind when the creature dies, and you pay the equip cost again each time you move it. SkullclampOpen the Equipment pageStatic BuffGives creatures a lasting bonus to power and toughness while it remains on the battlefield, rather than a boost that wears off at end of turn. Garruk's Uprising, Patchwork BannerOpen the Static Buff pageTransform / MeldTurns a double-faced card over to its other face. It stays the same permanent on the battlefield, now with the back face's name and abilities. Delver of Secrets // Insectile Aberration. Meld is the rare cousin: two specific cards exile together and return as one oversized card. Bruna, the Fading LightOpen the Transform / Meld pageLife GainGains you life, once or over and over. Soul Warden, The Great Henge. In Commander life is something to spend, not just a cushion, and many of these cards also set off others that reward gaining life.Open the Life Gain pageExtra TurnsTakes an additional turn once this one ends. Time Warp, Final Fortune. Casting them one after another so opponents never get a turn back is what Brackets 2 and 3 specifically ask you not to do.Open the Extra Turns pageForced SacrificeMakes opponents sacrifice their own permanents. Because they choose what to lose, it gets around protection and hexproof that ordinary removal cannot touch. Braids, Arisen Nightmare, Living DeathOpen the Forced Sacrifice pageGraveyard HateEmpties graveyards or stops cards from coming back out of them, shutting down decks built on reusing their graveyard. Bojuka Bog, Scavenger Grounds. It answers a whole plan rather than one card: without it, something like Eternal Witness keeps returning the same card all game.Open the Graveyard Hate pageVoltron CommanderA legendary creature that can carry the whole game plan by itself. It protects itself, grows with what is attached to it, or rewards attacking alone. The deck piles Auras and Equipment onto it and wins with commander damage, since 21 or more combat damage from one commander knocks a player out. Named for the toy robot built from smaller pieces. Zurgo Helmsmasher, Uril, the Miststalker, Sigarda, Host of HeronsOpen the Voltron Commander pageExtra TurnsSpells that grant you an additional turn. CHAINING means casting them repeatedly so opponents never get a turn back.What the brackets meanExtra Turns that chainSpells that grant you an additional turn. CHAINING means casting them repeatedly so opponents never get a turn back.What the brackets mean

Questions Readers Ask

Can any legendary creature be your commander?

Yes, as long as it is not banned in Commander. Look at the type line, the line across the middle of the card that says what kind of card it is. If it says both Legendary and Creature, the card can lead your deck.

Can a planeswalker be your commander?

Only if its text says "can be your commander." On Oct 22, 2026, Scryfall listed 22 Commander-legal planeswalkers that say it, including Daretti, Scrap Savant and Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury. Most other planeswalkers cannot lead a deck, and Grist, the Hunger Tide is a special case.

Can a Vehicle or Spacecraft be your commander?

Yes, if it is legendary. A Spacecraft also needs a power and toughness box printed on it, so Hearthhull, the Worldseed can lead a deck and The Eternity Elevator cannot.

Can a banned card be your commander?

No. A legendary creature that is banned in Commander cannot be your commander, and it cannot go anywhere in your deck. Griselbrand and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn are two examples.

Can the back of a double-faced card be your commander?

No. While you build your deck, only the front face counts, so the front face has to qualify on its own. Invasion of Theros has a Battle on the front, so it cannot be your commander even though its back is a legendary creature.

Where This Came From

  • Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules, effective September 25, 2026
  • Scryfall, Commander-legal cards that say "can be your commander"
  • Scryfall rulings for Grist, the Hunger Tide, Wizards of the Coast, 18 June 2021
  • Scryfall card text and Commander legality for Daretti, Scrap Savant, Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury, The Lunar Whale, Hearthhull, the Worldseed, The Eternity Elevator, Grist, the Hunger Tide, Rowan Kenrith, Will Kenrith, Wilson, Refined Grizzly, Candlekeep Sage, Invasion of Theros, Elbrus, the Binding Blade, Griselbrand and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Portions of Commander Nexus are unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved or endorsed by Wizards. Literal and graphical information about Magic: The Gathering, including card images and mana symbols, is copyright Wizards of the Coast, LLC.

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