Magic: The Gathering's newest expansion set, Wilds of Eldraine, may not be quite as powerful as its notorious Throne of Eldraine predecessor, but it's still an exciting set with plenty of great cards to play with. Some cards stand out for booster draft Limited or might make waves in the Standard format, while other Wilds of Eldraine cards are definitely going to shine in the Commander format.
This includes a handful of legendary creatures, many of them inspired by fairy tales, who will make excellent leaders in the Commander format. Some of them could also do well in the 99, but part of the fun of playing Commander is building all-new decks around fresh new legendary creatures to see what will happen.
10 Eriette of the Charmed Apple
Eriette of the Charmed Apple isn't just about enchantments. This legendary Human Warlock also has strong potential for table politics, which is both fun and effective for a multiplayer format like Commander. Eriette's deck can use negative enchantments to weaken enemy creatures, but it can also give positive enchantments to enemy creatures in exchange for favors.
A deck built around Eriette of the Charmed Apple can make friends with strong Auras like Angelic Gift and Spirit Mantle, but that's not all. To pursue its endgame, the deck should include lots of Auras to fuel Eriette's life drain, and failing that, the deck should use Sigil of the Empty Throne to make and attack with lots of 4/4 flying Angels as a plan B.
9 Rowan, Scion of War
Rowan, Scion of War isn't a good attacker in the Commander format despite its combat-oriented stats and menace ability. Instead, Rowan's deck should protect it with cards like Lightning Greaves, then take full advantage of its tap ability. This ability encourages the player to combine three elements: paying life, getting extra cards, and casting expensive spells.
Rowan's Commander deck uses both colors to pay life, such as Phyrexian mana, to make game-ending threats like Vilis, Broker of Blood and Hoarding Broodlord easy to cast with or without mana rocks. This deck also needs both colors to recklessly get cards from the library's top at the cost of life with effects like Bolas's Citadel, since Rowan does little without constant access to powerful spells to cast. This deck also has enemy life loss as a plan B, such as Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Exsanguinate.
8 Hylda of the Icy Crown
Hylda of the Icy Crown is the centerpiece of the white-blue "tap an enemy creature" draft archetype for Wilds of Eldraine, and in Commander, Hylda does the same thing on a much larger scale. In this format, countless creatures, instants/sorceries, and atifacts will tap lots of enemy creatures, allowing Hylda to make numerous 4/4 Elementals for her eventual assault.
This deck can also use countermagic and removal to make sure the way is clear, then swing out to crush an opponent who has no untapped defenders remaining. Hylda alone can make and buff enough creatures for the game-winning attack, but this deck can also use beaters like Sunblast Angel and Junk Winder to finish an opponent off.
7 Imodane, the Pyrohammer
Imodane, the Pyrohammer is a straightforward and aggressive commander whose deck is centered around damage-dealing instants/sorceries, "ritual" effects to get fast mana, and creatures that generate value from seeing instants/sorceries being cast. Imodane's damage-dealing effect is the main focus, but if that effect stalls out, its board state can finish the job.
Conveniently for Imodane, spells that only deal damage to creatures tend to hit harder, such as Shivan Meteor, Flame Slash, and Lightning Axe. When combined with damage-boosting effects like doubling or tripling damage like City on Fire and Dictate of the Twin Gods, these spells really could win the game on their own without needing a plan B.
6 Talion, the Kindly Lord
Talion, the Kindly Lord has a two-pronged strategy in mind. Half of its strategy involves making opponents lose life to its ability, and the other half is Fairie type support while attacking in the air. Each half is too weak to win a game of Commander, but together, they stand a chance.
Talion, the Kindly Lord won't do much on its own, so this deck uses Clone effects to make several more copies of it to cover a wide range of mana values. These Clone abilities, such as Spark Double and Sakashima the Impostor, are essential for making several Talions. The player can also tutor for the artifact Mirror Box so all their Clone effects dodge the legend rule.
5 Beluna Grandsquall
Adventure is a strong returning mechanic in Wilds of Eldraine, meaning the addition of all these Adventure cards has finally made an Adventure-centric Commander deck viable. Beluna Grandsquall is the creature who ties this entire deck together, mainly by making those Adventure creatures cheaper. The self-mill is just a bonus.
Beluna's deck aims to win by attacking with strong creatures, a simple strategy that calls for a lot of support. The deck runs ample mana ramp, and also uses heavy disruption to keep the way clear for those threats. This deck also needs cards that benefit from instants/sorceries being cast, including cards from exile, such as Nalfeshnee, Keeper of Secrets, and Riku of Two Reflections.
4 Will, Scion of Peace
Will, Scion of Peace has the same general strategy as its Rakdos-colored counterpart, Rowan, Scion of War. Both decks want to radically alter their own life totals to make big spells much cheaper to cast, which includes game-ending, high-cost creatures and X spells that scale well in the late game.
Gaining life is easy in Commander, with cards like Venser's Journal, Soul's Attendant, and Archangel of Thune around. Will's deck will cast mega-bomb cards like Storm Herd and Finale of Glory with ease this way, but the deck isn't 100% reliant on Will for lifegain to pay off. Cards like The Gaffer, Drogskol Reaver, and Aetherflux Reservoir are essential, and the latter can actually serve as a finisher.
3 Agatha of the Vile Cauldron
Agatha of the Vile Cauldron has a strategy that's both incredibly straightforward and highly diverse. This Gruul deck is loaded with creatures with costly but powerful activated abilities, and the simple part is boosting Agatha's power with equipment cards, Auras, and/or +1/+1 counters. The complex part is choosing which ability-heavy creatures to include so this deck can create an endgame scenario.
Creatures that can deal damage to opponents, boost attacking creatures or make crature tokens, such as Valakut Invoker, Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink, Walking Ballista, and Rhonas the Indomitable. This deck also needs cards like Illusionist's Bracers to copy those activated abilies and speed up this deck's strategy even more.
2 Totentantz, Swarm Piper
Totentantz's Rat-based strategy is all about "aristocrats" effects and life loss, since a swarm of 1/1's will rarely win a game of Commander. This deck aims to rapidly multiply its Rat board state, then sacrifice most or all of them to make all opponents lose life in a hurry. The deck has a similar effect even when those Rats enter the battlefield, making it faster.
Impact Tremors and Ayara and First of Locthwain deal damage when those Rats enter, and cards like Goblin Bombardment and Blood Artist make those Rats hurt on their way out, too. All this makes the deck resilient to non-exile boardwipes as well, since it doesn't matter how exactly those Rats die.
1 Yenna, Redtooth Regent
Yenna, Redtooth Regent's Commander deck can use its enchantment-copying ability to slow down enemy creatures with Auras like Darksteel Mutation and Song of the Dryads, but its best cards are more proactive. Yenna can make copies of enchantments that make creature tokens like Sigil of the Empty Throne and even copy Parallel Lives and Anointed Procesion to make even more creature tokens.
Indirectly, this makes Yenna a creature token deck, similar to many other Selesnya Commander decks. Still, the deck shouldn't focus entirely on tokens and copy beneficial enchantments such as Privileged Position, Sphere of Safety, and Mirari's Wake. This deck also uses Constellation-style effects like Eidolon of Blossoms and Mesa Enchantress to keep its hand full.