Hello folks!

I hope your day is going well! What Commanders elicit groans at the table or the local gaming store when they are flipped up? What Commanders are so reviled that they are not Be-Loved, but Be-Hated? What is universally scorned by your gaming group?

I wrote on this subject around two years ago. You can check it out here!

In that list, I took a look at what I consider to be the most Be-Hated Commanders that I had personally run into. Today, I want to look at my Next Ten, so these would hit from 21 to 12(roughly).

As this article is a sequel to my first article, here were my selections for the most Be-Hated Commanders.

1. Uril, the Miststalker
2. Oloro, Ageless Ascetic
3. Derevi, Empyreal Tactician
4. Karador, Ghost Chieftain
5. Maelstrom Wanderer
6. Leovold, Emissary of Trest
7. Jhoira of the Ghitu
8. Zur the Enchanter
9. Kaalia of the Vast
10. Nekusar, the Mindrazer
11. Sliver Overlord // Sliver Queen // Sliver Hivelord // Sliver Legion

And there you go! Note that Leo has since been Commander Banned, but he'll retain his space on my list. He earned it!

To my mind, what makes a Commander Be-Hated?

While any such rating will have a level of subjectivity to it, here are the three reasons why I consider these leaders to be Be-Hated.

1. Too Powerful - In order for a leader to quality for my list, it needs to be overly onerous and powerful. Take one of my entrants in my previous list - Zur the Enchanter. Zur decks are very powerful, and can win the game on their own, just by attacking and then putting enchantments onto the battlefield from your library for free. As a result, he's too powerful.
2. Too Similar - When you have a leader who is very powerful, and their deck is the same each time, it can get boring to play against them. Not only is winning going to be hard, but the game is going to play similarly each time. With Zur, because he only gets enchantments of a certain cost, he doesn't have much flexibility. He plays the same every time. That's rough.
3. Too Pervasive - The final element needed to crack my list is being heavily played. If you aren't heavily played, then you aren't going to be Be-Hated. Again, Zur is played all over. I've played against these decks, and it's not just me. According to EDHREC, there are more than 2000 decks registered, which would slot him in around the 25th most played Commander.

Now, let me get you three counter examples of Commander that I think have two, but not all three, of these elements:

Doran, the Siege Tower - Doran, the Siege Tower is a powerful swinger with a 5/5 beater on an 0/5 body. He turns dorks like Indomitable Ancients into game winners, and shuts down a lot of decks by hurting their ability to deal damage as they emphasized power. Because he emphasizes a certain unusual toughness-matters set of cards, the cards used in his decks will tend to be very similar to each other. Powerful, and similar. But you know what? No one runs him. I can't remember the last time I ran into a Doran build either in real life or online. It's been years and years. Doran doesn't meet all three of my qualifications.

Atraxa, Praetors' Voice - No Commander is more heavily played than Atraxa(according to EDHREC.com). She brings a powerful presence to any game as well. You can't ignore her, and you'll often run into her at blind games at the stores. But you know what? She's not similar. I've run into Super Friends builds with planeswalkers, infect builds, and +1/+1 counter builds in the last 6 months alone. She may be common and powerful, but at least she gives you the courtesy of playing differently each time, so thanks Atraxa players! And that means she's not here on my list either.

Azami, Lady of Scrolls - There was a time when Azami decks dominated the format so much that a Deck Doctor Commander column at StarCityGames was named "Dear Azami." Azami remains a strong contender at the kitchen table who is heavily played and her decks all play the same. She is the 2nd most played Mono-Blue deck, and the 6th most played of any mono-colored leaders. We all know what she is doing. Mono-Blue. Wizards. But you wanna know something? I never felt that I didn't have a shot at winning. She wasn't that strong. She was consistent and pervasive, but I never heard that sense of "Oh No, I Can't Do Anything Against Azami!" that you get against Zur, or other cards in my first article like Uril, the Miststalker or Oloro, Ageless Ascetic. I don't think her winning percentages were out of line with her amount of play.

There you are. Three examples of Commanders that score highly in two of my three categories, but aren't on the other, so they aren't on my list.

What did make it?

10. Animar, Soul of Elements

Animar barely makes my list. I think Animar's reputation as being "unanswerable" is a little too much. But Animar is still very strong. Our good Elemental is the 11th most played leader out there on EDHREC and can play very similar slates of cards each time. I hear you. But Animar can be answered by targeted removal of the Red (Chaos Warp, burn before the counters arrive), Blue (Pongify effects, Imprisoned in the Moon, stealing, bounce), and Green (Beast Within, Desert Twister, Song of the Dryads, etc). And this is all in addition to mass removal in the two colors that Animar has protection from, as well as counters, and such. Plus, you can be cleaver and run targeted removal in Black or White as long as it's an aura that was not cast from your hand (such as one that was targeted by a Blink effect.) Every color answers Animar.

The benefits of Animar are obvious. As you cast critters, it gets bigger, and those creatures get cheaper to cast making it bigger. The problem is that an Animar deck can just explode its hand of dorks on the table by carefully stacking them, and then you have a 6/6 Animar and four or five creatures out there.

However, to make this deck work, you need to maximize your creatures and thus minimize your counter-answers to my answers. Many of your decks run Nikya of the Old Ways and thus aren't running many (or any) non-creature answers. If I want to drop a Wrath of God, barring a Mystic Snake, you aren't likely to say no, and you can't lean into White for a lot of dorks that give your team indestructible, so your options are more limited. Barring cards like Beast Whisperer or other draw-effects, you often have to vomit your hand onto the battlefield, and that is often the way you can bring balance to the force. Sweep and move on. No sweeping? Then mass bounce instead, and then let's move on. Every Commander deck will typically have answers for this sort of play-style, as it's also the one that Kaalia of the Vast or a token-matters style deck will open as well.

9. Brago, King Eternal

According to EDHREC.Com, Brago is the 8th most played dork out there, and you certainly run into many a Brago deck when you play. He problem with Brago is that unlike other blink leaders and effects out there, like Roon of the Hidden Realm, Brago can blink everything you have in one hit. You can reset anything other than lands, such as planeswalkers, and net a massive number of enters-the-battlefield triggers. And you do so... Every. Single. Turn. As long as you punch face. There are several combos that are commonly played with Brago to help ensure he hits repeatedly, with tempo-based triggers like Tempest Caller and bounce effects such as Reflector Mage joining the abusable Cloudblazer. With so many powerful game-winning triggers you must stop, your only way to shut off Brago Beats, is to remove its ability to force hits with things like Rogue's Passage or Steel of the Godhead (or shut off combat damage with something like a Fog effect). Every deck runs the same cards. Rinse and repeat. It's oppressive, but it hits back here at my nine spot because I feel that Brago is more easily answered than some of the above dorks.

8. Teferi, Breaker of Friendships

Don't look at Teferi's abilities. At first, they may seem harmless for a 6-drop planeswalker. +1 to scry 2 and draw 1? Minor. -1 to untap some stuff? Really? And then you play against him, and every single Teferi deck plays the exact same way.

The issues with Teferi are actually very similar to the issues with Jhoira of the Ghitu. You can build many fun decks around Teferi! You could use him as the leader of a Prodigal Sorcerer build and then tap four Prodigal Sorcerers for four damage, and then untap them and shoot again! And if you were combo-ingTeferi with cards like Reveka, Wizard Savant or big and cheap bombs that don't untap easily to untap them and swing fast? People would love you.

But you know what? They aren't. Just like every player of a Jhoira of the Ghitu deck invariably runs mass land destruction effects like Obliterate rather than a fun beater or Timmy build, no one runs Teferi like this. They all run cards like Stasis and Static Orb.

I am not joking. I've never played against a Teferi deck that wasn't trying to play a nasty tempo strategy. Ever. Not in real life, not online; not in play groups, and not in pickup games at the local card store. Never.

Now, to be fair, I do think that many of the players who enjoy the tempo-licious feel of dominating a table turn after turn after turn without actually doing anything with that are going to be drawn more to #2 rather than Teferi, since he's just one color and more mana to cast. He hits here at #8 because he isn't played as much as #2 in this role, and he is just the 4th most played mono-Blue dork. But he's here nonetheless.

7. Niv-Mizzet, Parun

Even though he just debuted two sets ago in MTG, he has led in growing very quickly. Many Commander players really gravitate to him. Why? Just look at him! You are confident that he'll resolve, and you have the normal Niv-Mizzet combining card draws into damage. All by himself, sitting behind walls, he can kill with damage. And then there's the next one. Whenever any player casts an instant or sorcery, you draw cards. That's not just you; that's your foes too! You draw an epic amount of cards and do an epic amount of damage as more players are added to the game. In Commander where you could easily be dialing against 3 or 4 enemies at once, he draws you gas without ever thinking about it, and can shoot a player, planeswalkers, or creatures, for 5 or 6 damage each go around the table. That's exactly the sort of powerful game a lot of folks are looking for. The issues? Every Parun deck I've run into has played identically. And each month, Niv-Mizzet, Parun has one of the most decks registered over at EDHREC.com, so there are a lot of decks rolling in, demonstrating the adoration of him. Thus he is charting here.

6. Kess, Dissident Mage

Even though she hit Commander recently, she has been a very popular build-around. Since she brings the Grixis colors to the table as well as an instant/sorcery matters slate of themes, Kess is strong as she has access to the colors of removal, counters, burn, bounce, and card drawing. Getting a free card each turn is very strong, especially if you didn't have to attack, or do combat damage, or anything else. Now sure, you have to spend the mana, it has to be in your graveyard, and it exiles itself if it heads back to the graveyard. But a free spell every turn is not something to look askance at. That is a level of power that anyone can get behind. Although she is not one of the Top All Time on EDHREC.COM, she is usually one of the top each month in newly registered builds, so she certainly is increasing in her pervasiveness. There are already more than 100 Kess decks registered than my #2 below, as a good example.

Obviously, any Kess build will have a lot of similarities, and cards like Ponder and Brainstorm are very, very common. Everyone I've run into runs Capsize, among other buyback options, because if you spend the buyback cost, it won't be exiled, it will just go into your hand. They all have Guttersnipe, Young Pyromancer, spells like Cyclonic Rift, or Cryptic Command, and so forth, as well as cheap Tutors like Mystical Tutor and Demonic Tutor all over. It's a very predictable deck that plays the same each game. And thus, it's worthy of my list!

5. Rashmi, Eternities Crafter

The first spell each turn gives you either a drawn card or a free spell, so you'll never miss getting value. She isn't even limited by when you can do with it. Any turn! Each of your foes? Sure! And we've all seen someone cast three separate cheap instants like Opt to draw three cards in our turns, even though none of the revealed cards were cheap enough to cast. And that's the problem with Rashmi. Free cards or spells cast is powerful, and she churns cards and card advantage powerfully, so folks load her deck up with cheap or free cards with big costs, like Peregrine Drake or Palinchron as well as tons of instants, like the free Snap or Frantic Search, and such. With the massive amount of card advantage Rashmi brings to the table, she is both powerful, and her decks play very consistently. Even though she's only been in print since we visited Kaladesh, she's the third most played Simic colored leader, and there are more Rashmi decks registered than Edric, Spymaster of Trest. She has earned her spot here.

4. Yidris, Maelstrom Puncher-of-Faces

I have played against many a Yidris deck. They have never been fair. They aren't even pretending to be. A 5/4 trampler for four mana can win the game in five face-punches. And then when it cold clocks you, it will follow up with some cascading fun. The player will always target someone vulnerable to attack who hasn't assembled a defense yet, or who can block all five damage with something like a Fog Bank, and then get the cascade triggers to fall their way. Yidris decks are built very similarly to each other, and they are the 7th most registered build on EDHREC.

3. Narset, Enlightened Master

Now, before we get started with Narset, I don't think that she's a top ten Be-Hated. I've beaten her with janky decks like my Mono-Red Diaochan, Artful Beauty deck. Plus, she's six mana for just a 3/2 first strike body, so there's an opportunity to answer her at that level. She requires to swing to get her effect, so you can disrupt effects like Whispersilk Cloak that will ensure she can get in hits with impunity. If you can counter her once or twice or kill her and build up that Commander tax, there is a chance you can stop her. That's how my Diaochan deck took her down. I have Lighting Greaves on my Diaochan, and controlled Arcane Lighthouse. I could target her and kill her before she did anything, and then the controller couldn't kill my Diaochan back since I had Greaves' her. I won. Like Animar, I feel that Narset against you has a lot of "outs." Every color can answer her, like my Mono-Red build did.

But much like Kaalia of the Vast and Zur the Enchanter, Narset has a powerful attack trigger, rather than a combat damage based one. Because she can dig down four cards, and exile them, and then you can cast them for free, so you'll normally see a land and some other cards, often one that's a meaningless Lightning Helix or Absorb, and then two strong effects like a big spell or dork. That's what you care about - the two strong effects. And any effect that can set up the top of their deck, with cards like Scroll Rack, is an auto-include here. You always have cards like Insurrection and Avacyn, Angel of Hope here. Narset's cards are typically the same. Not only is she pervasive and powerful, but she plays very similarly as well. Thus, she's here on my list.

2. Grand Arbiter AugustinIV

The problem that Grand Arbiter has is that you are both playing a tempo-you-can't-do-things build while the player is not even bothering to end the game quickly. It's excruciatingly slow. It doesn't even give you the courtesy of a quick kill. Nah. It just wins slowly with a grinding presence at the table. At first it's just one mana. And then you look down and its Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Rhystic Study, Spelltithe Enforcer, Mystic Remora, Aura of Silence, and many other dorks and you have to deal with the difficulty of untapping in the face of Winter Orb, Rising Waters, Tangle Wire, and other effects.

At least Teferi, Ender of Friendships could be used, in theory, for something else, (even if no one actually does in real life.) Here, we all know what's about to happen.

Fighting against a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV deck feels like a relentless slog-fest just to cast things. It's a constant struggle just to find the mana you need. I don't want to spend an entire game just trying to set up my mana base so I can cast things. And they can easily rely on hate bears and cards that shut down anything you might want to do. Want to Tutor for an answer? Manage to unearth the mana to do so? Great! Here let me flash out my Aven Mindcensor. Hope you can find it in the top four cards!

1. Meren of Clan Nel Toth

The 2nd most played Commander of all time(again, according to EDHREC.com), and it's dominant, and runs the same. How could it not be here? The issue with the player experience counters, is that the traditional routes of dealing with it aren't there. For example, a normal Commander might get better over time by getting counters on itself. You can kill it and then it resets in power. But with experience countered foes? You can kill the dork, and it comes back just as strongly.

That makes Meren almost impossible to answer. Kill, exile, etc. Meren. Then she comes back, and you still have six experience counters. Because she gets the trigger at the end of the turn, rather than during your upkeep, she cannot be answered on other turns, or give folks a full round of answers. You get either a free Raise Dead or a free Zombify, (typically the latter), each of your turns.

Plus, the decks run very similarly to each other. I cast Sakura-Tribe Elder. Sac. Get a counter and a land that helps recast Meren. End of turn, put the Elder in my hand, unless I have two or more experience counters, in which case, it heads back to the battlefield, for more sacrificing for more landing for more experience countering, etc. It's mind-numbingly simple to chain powerful game-winning combos. For example, you can bring back a self-sacrificing option that forcing each player to sacrifice a creature like Fleshbag Marauder. I recur it - you sac dorks, and then I sac to itself, and grab a counter. I can bring back Spore Frog to sac for Fogs in case you dare and try to swing at me. Eternal Witness? Skullclamp? Death triggers like Grave Pact and Blood Artist. Big answers like Rune-Scarred Demon and Woodfall Primus. Rinse and repeat. So boring, so similar, so powerful.

Any doubt this thing should be here? Nope? Moving on.

Now to be fair, there are a lot of Commanders that are heavily played that feel fair, like Queen Marchesa, Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, Omnath, Locus of Rage, and Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis. All of those are among the 15 most player leaders, and yet, all feel fair. There is no "You are Playing it Bias" here.

I want to encourage you to take up a challenge. If you want to run one of these, why not do so from another angle? Like Teferi with a Prodigal Sorcerer deck?

And there you are! What did you think of my selections? Anything I missed or you disagree with? Just let me know!