Commander is a game that is often focused around the creature you have in the Command Zone. Always having a reliable play for two mana can be really strong, and some of the strongest Commanders in the format – like Kinnan and Arabella – are two mana. Here are 10 Underrated two mana Commanders to try out. They’re a lot of fun, and boast some strong lines of play.
And, most exciting of all… they let you build your deck in unique ways, with unique cards.
MAGDA, THE HOARDMASTER
We’re all acquainted with Magda, Brazen Outlaw. Kaldheim Magda has made a name for herself at cEDH tables and regular tables alike, tutoring all manner of threats and giving you a big boost of mana with treasure production.
Magda from OTJ is also pretty cool though, and often proves to be a blast to pilot (and play against!). Magda decks like to capitalize on treasure production first and foremost, utilizing Cavern-Hoard Dragon, Descent into Avernus and Professional Facebreaker to get those bursts of treasure. You can even play a card like Brass’s Bounty, as it is potentially 2-3 4/4 flyers with haste for seven mana.
Magda encourages you to curve out with permanents that can target opponents or their own permanents – this way you can create your treasures from committing crimes. With multiple of these, you can make multiple treasures each turn cycle.
Once you amass some Dragons, you can turn them sideways for big damage and bonus effects from Parapet Thrasher. Dragonspark Reactor can help give you that extra bit of reach to end games. You can also drop a Wrathful Red Dragon and follow it up with Blasphemous Act or Chain Reaction for huge damage.
For some more ideas, check out C_McL’s list. Synergy is key.
SAHEELI, THE SUN’S BRILLIANCE
Saheeli, the Sun’s Brilliance doesn’t get enough love. In a world of Jhoiras and Iron Man, she ended up a little slept on. She’s a lot of fun though, and can do some really cool things with artifacts. Your bread and butter will be ramping and playing big creatures and artifacts, but you gotta think with portals if you want to pop off. Think copying Coveted Jewel after casting it to draw another three cards and get your mana back. Think copying a Phyrexian Triniform or Trumpeting Carnesaur on an opponent’s turn as a surprise blocker.
Saheeli has some really fun synergy cards. Idol of Oblivion can of course fulfill its own criteria if you have nothing else to do, and draw you another card. Things get more interesting with Intruder Alarm, which you can easily go infinite with if you try. Perhaps the most interesting synergy card, though, is Esoteric Duplicator. You sacrifice Saheeli’s tokens, so you can essentially pay {2} to get yourself another one and double dip. Nice.
All of that aside, you have some wonderful art treatments for her, too – which always helps.
HAJAR, LOYAL BODYGUARD
Gruul Legendary-matters isn’t the first color you’d think to try for a legendaries deck, but when you have an option in the command zone that can give your board indestructible, why not give it a go? It’s not like there isn’t great card draw available in red green already, with Reki, the History of Kamigawa, The Great Henge, Legolas Greenleaf and Elemental Bond all on the table.
Bard Class is such a freebie in this list – being able to level it up to Level 2 immediately gives you a free cast of Hajar. You can generate plenty of mana from Gloin, Dwarf Emissary and Roxanne, Starfall Savant – the latter of which doubles mana production from treasures and from any other artifact tokens you can produce.
When you’ve curved out into setup pieces, it’s time to pave the way through. Halana and Alena and Surrak and Goreclaw can propel your haymakers, like Anzrag, the Quake-Mole, to victory. And, if there are too many blockers, you can just drop a damage wrath to clear the way, letting Hajar take one for the team.
JIRINA, DAUNTLESS GENERAL
Speaking of taking one for the team, having access to a way to keep curving out in the Command Zone is incredible. Commander these days doesn’t feature too many wraths per game, and oftentimes having an answer always available means you’re much more likely to keep your value engines and win conditions in play.
Jirina, Dauntless General is a great Humans Commander. She comes down early and gives you peace of mind to do what you want to do – meaning the Teferi’s Protection in your hand goes that much further. Much like Hajar, she can capitalize on cheap wraths like Vanquish the Horde to help move you through crowded board states, and if you lean into the likes of General’s Enforcer, your hate pieces like Thalia can stay around a lot longer.
Jirina has redundancy in Boromir and Benevolent Bodyguard, for instance, and if you’re going to play cards like Cathar Commando too, you can run Brought Back and other tricks that bring creatures that died back. I like Brought Back because it can also return Fetchlands, giving you some nice ramp action. Games can be swung with Jirina’s graveyard exile ability and Author of Shadows to help you set up for a big Living Death, which is always a good time. You also get access to Angel of Glory’s Rise for more one-sided mass reanimation.
MACCREADY, LAMPLIGHT MAYOR
Taking a slightly different approach is MacCready, Lamplight Mayor. If you concentrate on running creatures with power 2 or less, you can basically get right through and attack with impunity. Welcoming Vampire and Enduring Innocence will draw you plenty of cards, and you can ensure you get through with Company Commander.
There are plenty of synergy cards to help keep the deck keep going. Delney, Streetwise Lookout will double all of your triggers, while wraths like The Battle of Bywater help clear the board of bigger bodies. Raise the Past is an excellent source of recursion for when you inevitably do get hit with a wrath – though if you’re heavier on three and four drops, Ascend from Avernus is good and cheap too.
Draining life is the name of the game, so help yourself get more value from attacking with Commisar Severine Raine and Wispdrinker Vampire. MacCready also makes cards like Virtus the Veiled that much better, too – making them virtually unblockable.
TAII WAKEEN, PERFECT SHOT
Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot has that Boros card draw you ordered. Along with playing damage based removal spells like Justice Strike and Lightning Bolt, Taii Wakeen lets you dig into a really weird pool of cards.
Cards like End the Festivities will be your bread and butter, and Taii Wakeen essentially turns all of your smaller damage dealers into fireballs. Fire Magic at instant speed is a great option for dealing with opposing creatures, too, and Heartflame Duelist keeps you alive until you can reach the late game. Taii Wakeen is great with spells like this as you’re going to end up with a hand refill of anywhere between two and five cards, but potentially way more if you’re going up against a token army.
Digging out old cards like Caltrops or Lightmine Field can serve you well here, while Varchild’s War-Riders provides a steady stream of tokens for you to annihilate for cards. You’ll likely finish games by playing Kindlespark Duo and other pieces you can get in play ready for a big turn.
JACOB HAUKEN, INSPECTOR // HAUKEN’S INSIGHT
I had the pleasure of playing against my friend’s Jacob list last year, and it was a hoot to watch it pop off. This is the kind of mono blue deck that subverts expectations, and leans into ramping and playing wild spells. Jacob is essentially helping you cast big silly spells for free, often ahead of curve.
Getting an Extinguisher Battleship, Summon: Bahamut or Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant into play ahead of curve feels awesome.
You’ll want to ramp plenty and maybe even pack a High Tide and a Mana Drain in order to get the mana to cast you big spells. Bounce wraths like Flood of Tears can help you to drop that top end into play. Enchantments like Extravagant Replication and Moonlit Meditation help you get even more value off of your high-end.
Jacob has gotten a lot of new toys over Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Final Fantasy and Edge of Eternities. It’s a great time to give him a try.
NIAMBI, ESTEEMED SPEAKER
Reanimator is available in pretty much all colors these days outside of mono-blue and mono-red, and if you’re looking to play around with a reanimator deck that isn’t the same as your friends’ decks, then Niambi, Esteemed Speaker might be for you. Much like Joshua, Phoenix’s Dominant, she allows you to filter cards into the yard. Instead of paying big mana to flip her, and maybe get something back, you’re using her as a way to bounce a Karmic Guide or Angel of Indemnity back to your hand.
Adding some self mill like The Warring Triad, reanimation effects like Late to Dinner and Loyal Retainers, you’ll seek to sculpt your hand and graveyard to work for you. When removal inevitably gets pointed at your haymakers, you can tuck them back to your hand for safety, and gain a nice top up of life, by flashing in Niambi.
UW has a whole host of great haymakers to choose from, whether its Absolute Virtue, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, or something spicy like Medomai the Ageless. This is a great deck to mess around with Irenicus’ Vile Duplication and others ways to make nonlegendary copies of things.
Don’t miss out on the great Ward {2} offered by Gold-Forged Thopteryx, Dennick’s ability to protect your yard, and a cheeky Desynchronization to remove all of the tokens and non-legendary creatures from play.
SYR VONDAM, SUNSTAR EXEMPLAR
Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar is my latest muse, and the reason I put this article together. He’s a great little two drop that creates some mind games for your opponents. Do they remove him, and risk Karmic Justice? Or let him grow? Do they block your smaller creatures, knowing their deaths will grow Vondam? Mind games are a lot of fun, especially when you aren’t in an obvious Aikido or Politics style deck.
Getting Vondam to that four power or greater is as simple as sequencing him after a Hero’s Blade or Cultist of the Absolute. The most reliable gameplan is probably to play a bunch of 1/1 token generators, and force opponents to decide whether to block with them or not
Flicker spells are a great synergy, and you could feasibly build this as a flicker deck. Parting Gust and Touch the Spirit Realm are, of course, ideal choices as modal cards here. You’ll also benefit from running cards like Elenda the Dusk Rose as other ways to get large bodies, before sacrificing her or Vondam to a Disciple of Bolas. Blade of Selves is a neat way to get extra triggers, too.
Vondam can be built as flicker, reanimator, tokens, aristocrats or Voltron – and a mashup of any of those can lead to some fun builds.
END STEP
These 9 Two-mana Commanders all offer unique experiences, interesting card choices and different build paths to keep games fresh and exciting. Two mana Commanders are a lot of fun, owing to you being able to play with them out of the gates and build on them over time. Did any take your fancy? Have a cool 2-mana build of your own that isn’t one of the usual suspects? Share it with us on socials.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.