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The best Equipment Commanders are ones that can cheat around the equip cost or can take advantage by having multiple pieces of equipment on a single creature. Though this is a theme you can build in any colours, white and red are the two with the most support for the Equipment spells. There are over one thousand possible commanders, but these are 11 of the best Equipment Commanders you can choose from and our other guide on the best precon Commander decks.
What are the best Equipment Commanders in MTG?
You can build your Commander Deck around a creature with an innate affinity for Equipment. There’s a few we’d be pretty happy to suggest, including the ‘Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist’, ‘Kemba, Kha Regent’ and ‘Chishiro, The Shattered Blade.’
11. Kellan, The Fae-Blooded
Commanders with adventure have a few different rulings. Regardless of whether you cast the creature directly or the adventure side first, the commander tax will be added after the original cast. After casting, you have the option to return it to the command zone or exile it to cast later. If you cast the spell from exile, it is not subjected to the commander tax. This is how Kellan, The Fae-Blooded works. After using the adventure side you can have Kellan wait in exile until you’re ready to cast it.
Part of what makes Kellan, The Fae-Blooded good is that you have a free search effect for any equipment. In Commander where you have 99 card decks, putting cards from your library directly into your hand adds a ton of consistency to make sure you always have access to your best spells. Kellan is a unique Equipment commander who encourages a “Voltron” (putting multiple resources on just one creature) strategy while also focusing on building up a battlefield of creatures to gain power boosts from Kellan’s passive.
10. Shagrat, Loot Bearer
The best Equipment commanders in MTG are the ones that can cheat around equip costs, something that Shagrat, Loot Bearer does with ease. While you are loading up Shagrat with various Equipment spells, you are also growing your Orc Army for each of the attacks. If you have ways to gain extra combat steps, you get more triggers of Shagrat’s effect to snowball the game in your favor.
One of the biggest flaws of Equipment decks is that they tend to go all in on their commander. Where Shagrat, Loot Bearer shines is that it gives you a backup plan with the Army it amasses from its effect. So even if Shagrat ever gets removed, you do not have to start from zero since you have a strong backup creature to work with that you can toss Equipment onto.
9. Kemba, Kha Regent
Kemba, Kha Regent turns every Equipment card attached to it into 2/2 Cat creatures. With Equipment that gives it protection such as Swiftfoot Boots and Whispersilk Cloak, Kemba can be near impossible to interact with to make sure you are always making a ton of cats each upkeep.
Kemba’s relatively low casting cost makes it easy to take advantage of its effect early on in the game. The Cat tokens that Kemba makes can act as a solid line of defense while Kemba itself can be the main course of offense. Since the primary way of victory for Equipment decks is through commander damage, Kemba being able to safely attack while having the Cat tokens for blockers makes the strategy much safer compared to other commanders.
8. Balan, Wandering Knight
The general theme of the best Equipment commanders is the strongest are the ones who can easily toss a bunch of Equipment onto themselves. Balan, Wandering Knight does just that for just two mana to cheat around the equip cost of every Equipment you control. First strike is already a good effect to ensure you are safe in combat, but Balan can give itself double strike by simply having two Equipment attached to it which is trivial to accomplish.
Even if Balan ever gets removed from the battlefield, thanks to its effect to attach all Equipment you do not need to invest a lot of mana to set back up. A card like Colossus Hammer that gives a massive +10/+10 stat boost normally costs eight mana to equip, but Balan, Wandering Knight can equip it for just two mana and bring any other Equipment along with it.
7. Bruenor, Battlehammer
Bruenor, Battlehammer not only lets you equip an Equipment for free once a turn but also gives all your creatures a stat-boost. Notably, Bruenor gives itself the stat boost, meaning you not only get the boosts from Equipment but each one gives you +2/+0 as a bonus. This causes Bruenor’s stats to grow massively, especially since the base starts at five power.
While Bruenor can give other creatures stat boosts, more often than not Bruenor will be one of the few creatures you will control in Commander decks with it at the helm. Since many of the best Equipment spells do not require a large mana investment, you can pay the regular equip cost for those and then use the free equip on the ones that need a lot of mana to equip.
Why only white cards?
As you may have noticed, almost every commander on this list features white. White has the highest number of support cards for Equipment strategies. Some must-run cards include Sigarda’s Aid, Open The Armory, and Puresteel Paladin.
6. Chishiro, The Shattered Blade
Chishiro, The Shattered Blade turns all your Equipment (and Aura) spells into two for ones as a 2/2 creature token with menace will be made whenever one enters the battlefield. Unlike many Equipment commanders, Chishiro encourages you to spread your Equipment spells across multiple creatures instead of just loading them all up on one. This is because each equipped creature will get a +1/+1 counter at the end step.
Chishiro’s first effect plays into the second effect, as every Equipment will hit the battlefield having a fresh creature to give equip onto. The creature tokens having menace make them already strong on their own as they become harder to block, so adding Equipment to give them better stats makes them much more threatening attackers.
If Chishiro, The Shattered Blade sounds like a commander deck you would want to build, a lot of the groundwork is already done. It is the face commander of the Upgrades Unleashed preconstructed commander deck.
5. Galea, Kindler Of Hope
Galea, Kindler Of Hope is one of the best Equipment commanders that is over two colours. Like many of the strongest, Galea lets you cheat around equip costs. Notably, the only way to equip for free is if you are casting them from the top of your library. You can look at the top card of your library so long as Galea, Kindler Of Hope is on the battlefield, so if you have ways to control the top card of your deck you can move things around to ensure there is an Equipment there to cast.
Galea has a moderately low casting cost, and good colours to control what cards are on the top of your deck. It also lets you cast Aura spells from the top of your library which some Equipment commander decks run for extra layers of protection.
If Galea, Kindler Of Hope sounds appealing to you, it is the face commander of the Aura Of Courage preconstructed deck. This is a great way to easily jump into the format or hit the ground running with a solid Equipment-themed deck.
4. Astor, Bearer Of Blades
Astor, Bearer Of Blades is a unique commander that is strong in both Equipment and Vehicle strategies. When Astor enters the battlefield, you can put an Equipment (or Vehicle) into your hand from the top seven cards. If you have ways to blink Astor, you can keep using this effect to always have Equipment spells in your hand.
When it is on the battlefield, Astor turns the equip cost of all your Equipment to just one generic mana. This allows you to easily equip a ton of Equipment spells to various creatures in just one turn. With how easy it is to have a lot of mana in Commander, it will be rare to not be able to make sure your Equipment cards are always attached to creatures. While Astor does not have many powerful keywords, it is great to lead a Commander deck with creatures in the 99 that benefit more from Equipment spells while Astor sits back and acts as support.
3. Syr Gwyn, Hero Of Ashvale
Red and white are two of the best colours for Equipment strategies, and by adding black to the mix you get access to removal and tutor effects to add consistency to them. Syr Gwyn is a unique Equipment commander as it requires you to build around the Knight creature type to get the most out of it.
So long as you are putting an Equipment on a Knight, every Equipment will be free to equip. Syr Gywn is a Knight itself, which lets you put your entire battlefield of Equipment onto it if you want. However, Syr Gwyn also encourages spreading Equipment to multiple creatures as if you do so you get to draw cards when you attack. Syr Gwyn has vigilance and menace, two of the best abilities for Equipment strategies as they can act as strong blockers and attackers since it does not tap to attack.
2. Nahiri, Forged In Fury
Nahiri, Forged In Fury is more often than not going to cost one red and one white mana to cast. Since your deck is going to be built around Equipment, you will likely have a decent bit on the battlefield which will give you Affinity to discount Nahiri.
Nahiri’s effect is unique because it encourages you to attack with multiple equipped creatures as each one will turn into an impulse draw that lets you cast Equipment spells for free if you exile them. Even if you hit other spells, so long as you have the mana for them you can still play them so they do not go away forever if you whiff on Equipment.
An important thing to note is that Affinity will discount the commander tax for each Equipment on the battlefield. If you have a lot of Equipment lying around, Nahiri can attack recklessly since you will hardly ever have to worry about the commander tax itself.
1. Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist – The Best Equipment Commanders
In Commander, partner commanders are among the best as you can control what colours you want to build your deck around. If you are making an Equipment deck, Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist will almost always be one of the two partners if you go that route.
Ardenn lets you move your Equipment to any creature on the battlefield that would be the best to attack with. If you are using Auras on top of your Equipment, Ardenn is one of the few ways to move them from one creature to another.
There is no shortage of amazing partners to pair with Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist. Rograkh, Son Of Rohgahh is a zero-cost red commander that comes with first strike, menace, and trample to become your primary attacker that requires little investment to get going. Tana, The Bloodsower gives you access to red and green and has trample, and will create 1/1 tokens whenever it deals combat damage. Perhaps you want to swing wide at everyone in which case Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar is the optimal commander as whenever one commander deals damage to a player it deals that damage to every other opponent.
That concludes our list. The best Equipment commanders are ones that can benefit from Equipment and can assist other creatures on the battlefield. Many of the strongest act as support and let you discount equip costs so that your Equipment can always be on a creature.
The benefits of running an Equipment Commander deck are that they are explosive and can close out the game quickly if they are not taken care of. A weakness is that they can be “all or nothing,” meaning it requires a lot of resources in just one creature so if it ever gets removed you have to start all over again. This playstyle is not for everyone, but if it is up your alley, you have plenty of options to choose from. Lastly take a look a look at our other MTG guides, such as how to build a Commander deck and how to play Commander.
