At the beginning of this year I had a thought. We always see everyone talk about the coolest and the most fun Commanders you can build. It turns into a popularity contest and you end up seeing the same cards over and over again once people figure out what some of the better legends are in each set. But with how many Magic sets release in a year, there has to be some legends that were overlooked, right?

So, I decided to look into itand do a big write-up on some of the more underrated commanders of 2022. Now that 2023 is coming to a close, I feel it's only right to do the same for 2023. I'm going through each set of the year to find the best of the worst, the hidden gems that were largely ignored. First, though, let's set up some guidelines.

1. When I mention how well represented various commanders are, I'm referring to the amount of decklists on EDHREC.com. This helps provide a decent gauge for how utilized these commanders really are. I will mainly be focusing on commanders with a representation of 200 lists or less - though this time around, there's one or two over that threshold which I'll explain when they come up.
2. Similar to last year where I skipped over Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate and the Secret Lair x Stranger Things release due to issues, I'm skipping over Universes Beyond: Doctor Who for the sake of this list. The reason is that the Doctor's Companion cards in conjunction with the various Doctor cards make things not display properly on EDHREC.com and makes it difficult to gauge how represented something actually is.
3. With the exception of one card that really stood out to me, I'm skipping over the reprint sets of Dominaria Remastered and Commander Masters. With the former, there's not much worth talking about, and with the latter, only the new cards show as "commanders." That makes it tough to read how much the cards are played without looking at every single legend in the set, and there's a bit too many to pull up to reasonably go through them all.

All right, got it? Awesome! Let's jump into the list!

Arcades Sabboth (144 Lists)

Like I said, I was going to skip the reprint sets entirely, but I had to mention Arcades Sabboth here. I get it, the original Arcades isn't that great by today's standards, but it's bizarre to me that the card has so few lists. I don't base that as much on power level or utility, but the format is - in spite of its modern name - known as Elder Dragon Highlander. Given the long term reputation of how these classic legends basically brought about the format, you'd think that there might be more people trying him out. I'd definitely recommend giving it a shot if you're looking for something a little different!

Rhuk, Hexgold Nabber (65 Lists)

By now I think it's safe to say that equipment commanders are pretty much a dime a dozen - especially when it comes to Boros colors. Rhuk is only half of that equation, and truthfully plays a little funny. Why would you want to move your equipment before blockers? That just seems like a strange concept. When you look at it from the angle of using your creatures as fodder to sacrifice abilities, though, suddenly it opens you up to doing some real shenanigans in the combat step. Spit out a bunch of tokens and then sacrifice them post-blocks to something like a Makeshift Munitions and watch sparks fly! I feel like this one went over most peoples' heads due to being a Phyrexia: All Will Be One Jumpstart rare - a product that failed miserably. This is an equipment legend who does something different, though, and is certainly worth your time trying to play with.

Geth, Thane of Contracts (79 Lists)

This version of Geth was one of those cards that got my brain working when I first saw it. Both of his abilities read negatively on a cursory glance. Why would you want to give all of your creatures -1/-1? Furthermore, why would you want to revive something only for it to not be able to return to the graveyard? Still, I couldn't help shake the feeling that you could do something with this. It gives me the vibes of cards like Heartless Summoning, which seem like they're too much of a downside only to provide enough of a cost reduction to genuinely offset the power down if you're utilizing the right creatures.

Unfortunately, both of the card's abilities read really badly to your average player, which is probably a solid rationale for why the list count here is so low. Why play this over the more visibly accessible legends that are far easier to grok? In truth, I think there's some really strong ways to utilize both of these abilities. The reanimation side involves finding a bigger creature for a low cost, which isn't super difficult to put together. The other element is finding something that you actually want to die. Think something like Myr Retriever so that it can repeatedly get itself back or Perilous Myr so that it can die right away. This definitely leads me to believe that this iteration of Geth is pretty underrated and is worth your time if you like a good puzzle to build around.

Moira and Teshar (244 Lists)

As I noted at the top, I try avoiding decks that are over 200 lists by a reasonable amount. The reason I wanted to cover Moira and Teshar, though, is that they're honestly low for Commander sets. You see, normally people gravitate to Commander precon legends because that's their entry to the format. This usually inflates the numbers behind the cards and they frequently go well over 1000 lists. Even with the brand new precons from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, the lowest non-Partner legend is Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood with 524 lists - a number that's sure to swell in the coming months.

So, really stands out how Moira and Teshar are as low as they are and it's worth shining a little bit of a light on the pair. Heck, I think the surprise is added by the fact that the original Teshar card - Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle - is fairly popular in his own right. With him, though, you can do some real infinite types of shenanigans. With this pair card, your options get a little more limited as you can only get them back once before the cards are exiled. Still, even with how popular Reanimator strategies are, and the fact that this can hit way more cards, I think more people should give this pair a chance.

Arni Metalbrow (109 Lists)

Hey, remember March of the Machine: Aftermath? Yeah neither do I. Frequently, I find myself forgetting the set exists and a card always comes up to remind me that there were some neat things happening in the set for as much of a miss as it was. Arni Metalbrow is one such card. What makes Arni so cool is that his ability doesn't just happen one time. If your hand has the right tools in it, you can actually chain multiple creatures into play to make for a really epic combat step. Building around this is extremely linear and will often lead to games that play very similarly to one another, but I definitely think it's worth having as a uniquely playing experience that you can probably build cheaply - especially as a Mono-Red list. Try him out!

Old Man Willow (71 Lists) and Beregond of the Guard (20 Lists)

I'll be honest, going through the low end of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth felt like I was really trawling the dregs. The reality is that many of the legends in that set only bear that legendary status because they're characters and the cards they're on could probably have been non-legendary just as easily. Either their abilities are too simplistic or else they're very narrow for the strategies specific to LTR itself. As such, there wasn't too much I could realistically cover, but I did find two that stood out to me.

The first was Old Man Willow. It's a pretty straightforward beatstick, but one that you can reasonably build around. In many ways, it doesn't feel too different from playing something like Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar. It also benefits from being itself a once a turn sacrifice outlet and simultaneously providing removal. It's not big or flashy, but there's definitely some reasonable fun to be had with this one.

The second that stood out to me was Beregond of the Guard. Seriously, only 20 lists?! That's nothing! It's a very all-in strategy that you're building around here, but it's also a pretty powerful one. I like to equate it to Goldnight Commander, a card from Avacyn Restored that I've loved in many decks over the last decade or so. Beregond takes this to the extreme, focusing solely on humans and only allowing you to use White, but honestly, I think there's quite a bit of fun you can get out of this. The damage can snowball really fast if you build the deck right and can be a real powerhouse to contend with. It's absolutely deserving of more love than just a meager 20 lists.

Syr Armont, the Redeemer (25 Lists)

I'm honestly stunned at just how few lists Syr Armont has behind her. I'm chalking this up mainly due to one of the two Commander precons for Wilds of Eldraine featuring a generally better aura legend in the form of Ellivere of the Wild Court. However, I think the two fulfill generally different roles. Ellivere is cool because of how she generates lots of auras and card advantage. Syr Armont is best at pumping up all your creatures and making them harder to deal with when they're suited up. I don't think Syr Armont is exactly the best thing you can be doing, but as an accessible uncommon you might have lying around from a draft, she's a great choice to slap together a list in the "cards I own" style and get some fun games in with friends.

Ash, Party Crasher (111 Lists)

When it comes to Commander, I feel like in a very general sense, players find themselves wanting to do cool and flashy things. Moreover, they want to have a lot of variety in how their games play out. That leads to people doing interesting and generally synergistic things as opposed to going in on a linear strategy. Hell, if you've been reading my articles long enough, you've likely seen me express this exact sentiment in regards to how I dislike playing Elves in Commander. I love playing the archetype in every single format, but I can't stand it here because it plays the same every time.

One thing I've come to appreciate as time has gone on, though, is that sometimes it's good to just get things down to the basics. Sometimes a simple and straightforward list just makes for the most fun and engaging gameplay. I think Ash, Party Crasher exemplifies this idea. She's all in on herself and this interesting method of play in utilizing multiple permanents at once. There're tons of ways to do that, and while people might want something a little more meaty than an all-in linear strategy, I definitely think building a deck around someone like Ash is something more people should experience. Give her a try and you might be surprised by how refreshing it can be!

Abuelo, Ancestral Echo (135 Lists)

I'm chalking up this low number to simply the fact that it's new, but I'm genuinely shocked that Abuelo is as low as he is. He's a Blink commander - an archetype which is historically fairly popular in Commander itself. While not the most beloved by today's standards, legends like Brago, King Eternal and Roon of the Hidden Realm have historically put up strong numbers on the back of this strategy. Even the newer Preston, the Vanisher has just shy of 1500 lists available on EDHREC.com. Abuelo may not go quite as all-in on hitting multiple targets in the same way Brago does, but you can still do quite a lot with him alone. He's also a cheap flier and is a little more difficult to deal with thanks to his ward ability. If you like a good Blink strategy, give this one a shot.

Going through this list, I was surprised at how much more difficult it seemed to pull quality legends this year compared to last. It's both a testament to how high the overall quality was on the ones people wanted to play but also showed how rough several were in a Commander sense (looking at you Tales of Middle-earth). Still, though, restrictions breed some real creativity, so while these might not all be the most obviously playable commanders around, there's still some really great ways to build them and surprise your playgroups. I hope this list gives you plenty of fresh ideas for new lists yourselves, and hopefully it leads you to have a great time at your next Commander night!

Paige Smith

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