Ranked The Most Useless Red Commanders In Magic The Gathering
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Ranked The Most Useless Red Commanders In Magic The Gathering
Here are 10 useless Red Commanders that should practically never be chosen in Magic: The Gathering. In 's Commander format, players are able to build decks around diverse and interesting legendary creatures that provide the format with interesting dynamics. Commanders also allow for decks to quickly shape identities that players can relate with, much like a character they would play in a video game. However, for every Commander powerhouse, there's a legendary creature whose abilities are worthless in the format. So today we're going to dive headfirst into the commanders that red has to offer in the Commander format! THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY Verix Bladewing
Who doesn't like dragons? Their power, aggression, and evasiveness paired with their iconography have long led them to be an integral part of . However, in the commander format, there's an expectation that comes alongside a creature being a dragon that its abilities will offer more than, well, being a . Verix Bladewing is a 4/4 dragon with flying for four mana. That is perhaps the most straightforward body a dragon could possess. Additionally, Verix has kicker, allowing its controller to pay an additional three mana when casting it. If they do, they are bestowed with a legendary dragon token that is yet another 4/4 with flying. Offering little to nothing in regards to synergy, Verix Bladewing is perhaps the most bare-bones and vanilla option players have when constructing a commander deck. Jeska Warrior Adept
While there are far more offensively bad potential commanders, like the previous entry on this list, Jeska Warrior Adept's lackluster and underwhelming nature is full of weaknesses whilst not containing any impressive strengths. A 3/1 for four mana, Jeska fails the vanilla test, having less power and toughness than her mana cost. While she does possess first strike and haste, her notably low toughness makes her extremely easy for most strategies to deal with. Lastly, while she can be tapped in order to deal one damage to a creature or player, the limited amount of damage this ability can deal hinders its ability to be noteworthy. Tarox Bladewing
Tarox Bladewing is a commander that, while passable in other formats, is completely deflated by the singleton aspect of the Commander format. Though a 4/3 with flying and haste for five mana does not pass the previously mentioned "vanilla test," Tarox possesses another ability: At any time, another copy of Tarox Bladewing may be discarded in order to double its power. This ability could hypothetically be utilized in order to deal extra damage with the dragon, but due to the format's restriction to one copy of each card being allowed in a given deck, this ability might as well not even be there. Eron The Relentless
Eron the Relentless is a card failing to possess any form of synergistic ability while simply not being worth the steep mana costs it comes along with. A 5/2 with haste for five mana, Eron's only other ability is to regenerate at the cost of three red mana. This means that if a player seeks to cast, attack, and safely regenerate Eron in one turn, they're going to need to pay the steep price of eight mana. There are numerous commanders who are capable of having a profound impact on a game at the same price. Unless one is looking for a highly costed commander with no notable synergies or combat capabilities, Eron is likely not the commander one should choose. Joven
A streamlined and simplistic commander, Joven is an unimpressive 3/3 for five mana. Possessing no keywords, for the cost of three red mana, Joven can be tapped to destroy a non-creature artifact. As there are often artifacts galore within a given game of commander, Joven could potentially serve as a response to mana rocks and equipment controlled by opponents. However, this inflated cost to slowly whittle away at opponent's artifact at a costly snail's pace is far from desirable, especially when there are far more reliable, efficient, and flexible options available. Chandler
Possessing identical power, toughness, and mana cost to the previous entry on this list, when it comes to consistency within the Commander format, Chandler is essentially a strictly worse alternative to Joven. While Joven can at least remove the opponent's sources of mana acceleration, Chandler can only destroy artifact creatures. While one would be hard-pressed to find decks not running any artifacts such as "Sol Ring," there are a plethora of decks that contain few to no artifact creatures at all. In an instance in which a Chandler deck is paired up against a deck containing no artifact creatures, their commander would essentially be little more than a 3/3 for five mana. Ishi-Ishi Akki Crackshot
Suffering from the same niche target problem as Chandler, Ishi-Ishi Akki Crackshot possesses a similar dilemma to a worse degree. A 1/1 goblin for two mana, Ishi-Ishi causes players to deal two damage to an opponent whenever they cast a spirit or arcane spell. While a Chandler player may run into decks with few to little artifact creatures, the likelihood of an Ishi-Ishi player running into a player with no spirit or arcane spells is significantly higher. Aside from the format staple, "Kodama's Reach," the vast majority of Arcane spells see very little play in Commander, while the creature subtype of Spirit is equally uncommon. Brothers Yamazaki
The legendary Brothers Yamazaki features an interesting ability, allowing for their controller to disregard the "Legends Rule" regarding Brothers Yamazaki, allowing for multiple brothers to be in play at the same time. Furthermore, the brothers would receive a buff for controlling more than one at the same time, incentivizing pairing up numerous brothers. Unfortunately, similar to Tarox Bladewing's problem, players are not capable of having more than a single copy of the card, rendering these abilities useless in Commander. While Tarox Bladewing, at least, possesses two relevant keywords in flying and haste, Brother's Yamazaki does not have such luxury, merely existing as a three mana samurai who doesn't pass the "Vanilla Test." Telim Tor
Telim 'Tor is a truly tragic commander. A 2/2 for five mana is an abysmal place to start, luckily, Telim 'Tor possesses flanking and the ability to provide all other creatures with flanking +1/+1 whenever he attacks. Unfortunately, even for those players out there eagerly seeking the perfect flanking commander, Telim 'Tor has a significant hindrance: He's mono-red. Of all the creatures to ever have been printed with flanking, excluding Telim 'Tor himself, there are only five red creatures with flanking. This means that Telim Tor has the capability of buffing a maximum of five creatures in his controller's entire deck. Hivis Of The Scale
Between the commanders Rubinia Soulsinger and Merieke Ri Berit, players have numerous options when it comes to commanders who can tap to steal creatures from opponents. Although Hivis of the Scale possesses such an ability, it is to a significantly worse and more limited degree. While the two previously mentioned commanders can steal any of an opponent's creatures, Hivis is only capable of gaining control of dragons. This is an incredibly narrow ability that in nine out of ten games, will not serve any purpose, leaving Hivis as nothing more than a 3/4 for five mana. Even for players seeking to steal lots of dragons from their opponents, Hivis can only gain control of one dragon at a time, while Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund gains control of every single dragon in play as soon as it enters the battlefield. No matter who you are, there is no reason you should be playing Hivis of the Scale as your commander.