The Best Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commanders For Each Color
MTG's newest set, Phyrexia: All Will Be One is upon us and in full swing. Many of the spoilers are quite exciting in many different formats. ONE has a total of 27 Legendary creatures that are eligible commanders. The new commanders from each set are something that's always exciting. So, today I'll be going over the best Commanders for each color from Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Let's jump right into my top picks for each of the five colors and then I'll break down why I think they're the best.
Top Commanders By Color
White
Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
Elesh Norn is a powerhouse of a card. The first half of the card is like a Panharmonicon, which is great. There are a ton of amazing ETB triggers to double up on in Commander - From simple, value-based things like Wall of Omens and Knight of the White Orchid to game-winning combos like Restoration Angel & Felidar Guardian, this card enables it all. And that's only half of it.
The second half of the card hates out opposing ETB triggers by being like a one-sided Torpor Orb. So, as good as enter-the-battlefield triggers are, your opponents will be missing all of theirs. Even if their deck isn't particularly built around these triggers, denying them things such as Solemn Simulacrum and Oblivion Ring can be pretty big.
Overall, Elesh Norn is all upside for you, all downside for your opponent, and very easy to build around. I expect this to see quite a lot of play and be very powerful for Mono-White.
Blue
Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus
Proliferation is a very powerful ability that got a ton of support in Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus is a great example of this. With this on the field, all your proliferation spells are twice as powerful. Literally so. Furthermore, the requisite to make Tekuthal Indestructible is the easiest of all the "Dominus" creatures from the set. I mean, this can be activated the turn it comes into play without much issue at all.
So, let's talk about what archetypes this enables in Mono-Blue. First, is Infect. While Mono-Blue would have you missing some of the premiere Infect spells, it's not the end of the world when you have access to double proliferation on an Indestructible creature. After all, each opponent would essentially only need a single poison counter.
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Next, I love a Super Friends" build with this commander. Blue has access to some powerful Planeswalkers like Tezzeret the Seeker, Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim, Narset, Parter of Veils and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon as well as new cards like Ichormoon Gauntlet you could get up to some gnarly ultimate abilities very quickly.
Black
Karumonix, the Rat King
Rat Tribal isn't the most popular Tribe in commander but it's beloved by those who are devoted to it. And there will be plenty of people that will be very happy to have a new commander for the archetype. Karumonix may very well be the most powerful Rat commander to date too.
Giving all Rats Toxic 1 is going to have opponents on a very quick clock. What I like about this is that it's all upside without having to devote cards to the Infect strategy - You can sleeve up the cards that you usually would for your preferred Rat build, play it like usual, and Infect opponents as well as damage them.
There is some very powerful built-in card advantage on Karumonix as well. In a devoted Tribal deck, I don't think it would be unlikely to get as least three cards off of his ETB trigger.
Red
Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
I love this card and I'm stoked to see Mono-Red getting new Commanders that fit so well within its wheelhouse. The ability to double up your damage isn't exactly unheard of but having it in the command zone is great. Decks with Solphim at the helm won't have the option to take a combat damage approach to deal damage but instead would need to directly damage opponents with a burn strategy. That said, cards like Chandra's Incinerator, Sulfuric Vortex, Guttersnipe, and Heartless Hidetsugu are all things that would be great in the 99.
Furthermore, discarding two cards to make the card Indestructible is a pretty small price to pay too. Especially when you consider discarding things like Risk Factor and Anger that don't mind being in the graveyard. While this may not be the overall most high-powered commander from the set, I think it is one of the better burn commanders that you could be playing.
Green
Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus
There is a lot to like here and one or two things that I wish were a little different. Let's start with the good. Doubling the power and toughness of all your creatures at the beginning of combat is huge. If there is one thing Green has no shortage of its large creature. Take Ghalta, Primal Hunger as an example. It's huge and it costs less the more power you have on board. So, Zopandrel and Ghalta will be best friends.
Moving onto some of the things I don't love - First and foremost, is the cost to make him Indestructible. To me, the cost is a bit of a non-bo. Granted, you'll have lots of creatures out but sacrificing them is the last you'd want to do. This isn't the end of the world but I wish the cost of activation was something different.
The other gripe I see people making about Zopandrel is the mana cost. Seven mana is quite a lot but the effect is something you can generate value on the first turn you cast it, it has some built-in ways to protect itself and you're in Green. So, ramping up to seven mana isn't the end of the world.
Multi-Color
Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch
Uret does every possible thing you could want a commander to do. He generates bodies, he can untap all your Myrs' each turn and he can turn them into a lethal attacking force. Given the amount of Myr that tap for mana, the real power of this commander comes from the untap ability. Being able to use cards like Palladium Myr, Leaden Myr, and Gold Myr for mana and untap them and do it is massive. Furthermore, things like Urza, Lord High Artificer and Cryptolith Rite can allow all your creatures to tap for mana.
Being in all five colors gives Uret access to any and all tools that he may need to accelerate the strategy forward too. Overall, I think he's an extremely powerful commander with access to great ramp, card draw, and removal that does a lot for Myr tribal. Considering the card is only available in Set and Collector Boosters, I think it'll end up being a somewhat rare and expensive card.
Colorless
Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut
This is one that came to my attention in the budget commander group that I'm a part of on Facebook. It's a very interesting card, to say the least. Essentially, it turns all of your creatures into 5/3 Juggernauts that attack each turn and can't be blocked by walls. Is this good? Yes, I think so. There are a ton of ways to go wide with artifact tokens in Mono-Brown and Graaz will make them all into Unstoppable Juggernauts.
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There are also some nice colorless synergies like All Is Dust and Zenith Chronicler that can help generate some extra value. Since I mentioned budget, let's talk about it for a second. Is Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut a good budget commander? I think it could be, yeah. Graaz himself is only about $0.25, and I think he has plenty of support cards that are easy on the wallet too.
Conclusion
The new commanders for each set and always a topic of discussion and Phyrexia: All Will Be One did not disappoint in this department. There are several more great commanders for each color than the ones I listed. As someone who likes Mono-Colored commanders, I was happy to see the Dominus Cycle of one-color legends. Which one of these ONE cards are you the most excited to build?