God cards are powerful no matter what TCG you’re playing, and just as iconic. Whether it’s the Egyptian God cards of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Arceus and the Creation Trio in Pokemon, or the Theros Pantheon in Magic, they’re some of the most recognizable and feared cards to sit across from. Here are the top 10 God Cards in Commander – the God cards that are serious business in Magic’s multiplayer variant.
10. OJER KASLEM, DEEPEST GROWTH // TEMPLE OF CULTIVATION
Kicking things off is Ojer Kaslem, a God of Ixalan. It was really close between this one and Ojer Taq for a spot in the Top 10, but Ojer Kaslem takes the spot due to white having plenty of token doubling effects already. Ojer Kaslem allows you to hit an opponent and dig deep into the top cards of your library to put a creature and a land into play. If someone’s open that’s the top six cards – if you have buffs, that could be way more cards than that. Played in a deck like Henzie, Ojer Kaslem will then die after blitzing, returning to the battlefield as Temple of Cultivation after also giving you the card drawn off of Blitz. That’s quite the value play for four mana with Henzie out. Ojer Kaslem is also one of the easier Ixalan Gods to flip back – requiring the City’s Blessing and three mana.
9. HELIOD, THE RADIANT DAWN // HELIOD, THE WARPED ECLIPSE
Heliod couldn’t reckon with Elspeth, and he couldn’t reckon with Phyrexia, either. Heliod is played here for his flipped side, the Warped Eclipse, because wow – that card can be obscenely good. If you want to see how strong it can be, check out JLK playing it on Game Knights. There are plenty of ways to have opponents draw cards alongside you (beyond the ways they’ll be drawing their own cards), and by building your deck to have limited color pip requirements, you can command the tempo of the game with ease.
8. THE SCARAB GOD
The Scarab God has long been one of the most played Dimir Commanders, and it’s easy to see why – you get a sweet upkeep trigger than slowly drains the life totals of opponents, and a death trigger that ensures The Scarab God returns to its owner’s hand when it dies (provided nobody nukes your graveyard). Once you stabilize with this and some Zombies on board, you can begin pilfering from everyone’s graveyards to build your own zombie army with the best of what’s on offer. It’s like recycling, except instead of handing in a stack of bottles for coins, you’re creating a pick and mix value engine of whatever festers below.
7. XENAGOS, GOD OF REVELS
Xenagos, God of Revels inspires fear in the hearts of Commander players everywhere. When that God is in play, you know that death is on the doorstep. All it takes is one Malignus or Ghalta or Anzrag, the Quake–Mole (another God that arguably deserves an honorable mention!), and you’re going to be scooping up your cards. +X/+X and Haste, where X is equal to power? That hits hard. Thanks to Gruul’s tendency to ramp hard and play damage doublers, Xenagos is one of the more lethal Gods on today’s list.
6. OJER AXONIL, DEEPEST MIGHT // TEMPLE OF POWER
Ojer Axoil, Deepest Might could be something of a successor to Xenagos in many ways. Just as Xenagos sets up to burst out big damage and take foes who don’t have spot removal to hand, Ojer Axonil is something of a terror for unprepared tables. The new generation of turbo aggro in many ways, Axonil shreds life totals quickly, and much quicker than you are usually prepared for – chaining together low investment early drops with power altering instants and sorceries. If it’s in the command zone? I’m keeping a close eye.
5. TIAMAT
A God that lets you search up multiple copies of a certain creature type would be strong no matter the creature type, but when it’s specifically a Dragon God that gets Dragons, in five colors – and those same dragons can more or less win the game – you best be running scared. Tiamat is one of the most fearsome foes in D&D, and in Magic it brings its A-game as well. Potentially scarier in the CZ than Ur-Dragon, if we’re honest.
4. HELIOD, SUN–CROWNED
Has anyone seen my Walking Ballista? Heliod, Sun–Crowned is famous (or perhaps infamous) largely for the infinite combo you can get out of him with Walking Ballista. Ballista win condition aside, he’s also just a fantastic value piece in lifelink decks, granting counters whenever you gain life – which is fantastic with a Soul Sister. Giving white decks a game-winning infinite is pretty neat though and is something they don’t get too often.
3. PURPHOROS, GOD OF THE FORGE
Purphoros, God of the Forge is one of the most reliable win conditions in the format, a mainstay of token decks from Goblins to Humans, in Red decks, Izzett, Boros, Mardu, and even in five color decks. In fact, he can even be used with flickering effects in a Sisay, Weatherlight Captain deck as a legendary win condition.
You rarely need to activate the +1/+0 to your team mode, as the burn usually just finishes everyone off. Pairs well with a Krenko and a nice damage modifier.
2. TERGRID, GOD OF FRIGHT // TERGRID’S LANTERN
When we look at the top God cards in Commander, we can’t ignore the one that’s worthy of being a Game Changer: Tergrid, God of Fright. She earns that GC distinction, being a truly miserable card to play against in lower power games. She builds around edict effects, essentially removing opponents’ board pieces and having them come back into play under your control.
“Fear is her one true Champion.”
At least when she’s in the command zone you can veto playing against her from the outset.
1. BIRGI, GOD OF STORYTELLING // HARNFEL, HORN OF BOUNTY
Undoubtedly the top God card in the Commander format is Birgi, God of Storytelling. Birgi and her horn, Harnfel, are played in a huge variety of decks, from truly casual spellslinger builds to Bracket 4 Storm builds and even in cEDH. She’s as much at home in Vivi Ornitier, Flubs the Fool and Silas Rograkh as she is in Kuja, Genome Sorcerer or Veyran, Voice of Duality or Feather the Redeemed. Even if you’re not aiming to storm off, you can play the Horn and get really good card selection out of her.
END STEP
These are the top 10 God cards in Commander right now. There were a few that made it close to the list, like Thassa, Deep Dwelling for her flicker goodness, and Karametra, God of the Harvest for her sheer ramping power, but today’s list are the most popular and most lethal God cards in the format. Did we miss one of yours? Let us know.
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.