Woah! Without so much as a word of warning, Wizards of the Coast has revealed all of the MTG commanders coming out in the first half of 2026. We got to see the face commanders of all five of Magic: The Gathering's Strixhaven decks and the three remaining Marvel commanders were unveiled (perhaps mistakenly) through product pictures.
With so many Commander precons teased at once, it is difficult to keep track of them all. So here's the internet's favorite thing - a numbered list - putting all nine legendary creatures into a neat ranking order.
Bear in mind that none of these cards are exactly bad. We're also assessing them on their own, so even if a commander is ranked low, it doesn't mean its precon will stink.
9. Doctor Doom, King of Latveria
Wow, a Grixis bad guys deck. Daring today, aren't we? The Doom Prevails deck is clearly a counterpart to the Captain America precon coming up shortly and a place to throw in all your good villain cards from various Marvel sets. But it's clearly the worse of the two, as Doom's buff is less powerful and his card more expensive than Cap's.
A lands-matter theme in a deck with no green cards seems tricky to pull off, and you only get to connive once per turn with Doom. What really kills my interest in this card, though, is that 'one or more' wording on the drain effect. This means you can't fill your deck with wheels and machine-gun your opponents with discarded lands.
I'm sure this connive deck will play decently, what with all the graveyard synergies and mayhem effects we've seen on villains so far. But I struggle to see why wouldn't you just play Norman Osborn instead and have a more exciting time.
8. Dina, Essence Brewer
Don't get me wrong, this version of Dina is a good card and it will find its way into the 99 of a lot of decks, but I don't see much reason to build her as a commander. Golgari aristocrats is an archetype that's been done to death, and here Wizards placed so many safety valves on our favorite green goth girl that it really cuts down on your options: you only get to draw once per turn, and you have to tap her to use her ability!
There's probably some tricks that can be pulled off exploiting big creatures for massive life gain. I see people mentioning Wall of Blood and Sanguine Bond, which to be fair, will be a fun trick in the 1 in 10 games you pull it off.
7. Zimone, Infinite Analyst
A new hydra commander, perhaps? Zimone is going to be powerful if you can get a lot of counters onto her and start casting immense X-cost spells for cheap. The trouble is, her ability only triggers on the first X spell you cast each turn, and you have to do quite a lot of set up to get a properly scary discount.
In the perfect Zimone game, you'll be able to chain increasingly discounted instants on each of your opponents' turns, making sure that at least one is a card draw spell so you can reload. But if your Zimone gets removed or you have a less than ideal start, I can see this deck being very easy to take out of the equation.
6. Captain America, Team Leader
This card comes with a good effect at a low cost, but it loses points because it's rather dull. This precon will provide a home for all your hero cards though, and get them swinging in right away with haste.
Obviously most of the cards you might want to upgrade the deck with will come from the upcoming Marvel set, and since this is a new creature type, there's a limited selection available. That said, past sets and Secret Lairs have already furnished us with creatures that would slot in perfectly - like Arana, Heart of the Spider and Iron Man, Titan of Innovation.
I've absolutely no clue how this face commander will support an equipment theme like the precon box promises, though.
5. Quintorius, History Chaser
A powerful graveyard commander in some of the worst colors for graveyard shenanigans, Quintorius, History Chaser provides an interesting deckbuilding challenge. This planeswalker is packed with power, from a really good +1 ability that draws two cards and fills the yard, to a static ability that builds up an army, to a board pumping ultimate that can be used immediately and has the potential to end games.
All you need to do then is find good, reliable ways to take cards out of your graveyard in a Boros color identity. Your options range from white recursion, to a bunch of utility artifacts, to a few good red cards that can do the job.
Handily, if you already have a Quint deck, this planeswalker can slot right in as the new commander. This elephant never forgets what he's all about: removing cards from graveyards and making 3/2 spirit tokens.
4. T'Challa, the Black Panther
Another interesting mismatch between theme and color identity, here we have a Selesnya artifacts commander. This is a powerful effect, and vibranium tokens seem like a much-needed upgrade to powerstones. They'll ramp out your artifacts and can't be destroyed, so you can quickly come back from a board wipe.
Since most artifacts are colorless, there are hundreds of cards you could slot into this deck. The precon apparently has a monarchy theme too, which sounds intriguing.
3. Rootha, Mastering the Moment
At first glance my eyes glazed over: more Izzet spell-slinging, sounds about right. But actually, Rootha has more to offer, encouraging you to do the 'big spells' Prismari thing and rewarding you with massive flying beaters you can attack with right away. Because you need to cast spells before you attack, this deck is the perfect home for splashy sorceries you might struggle to find a home for otherwise.
There are no guardrails here, no 'once per turn' or 'your first combat' to worry about, so now I'm thinking about extra combat spells. Full Throttle is an immense card with this commander.
2. Fantastic Four
This one isn't newly revealed, and it's bloody hard to assess, but I'm throwing it in near the top for now. The four members of the Fantastic Four can all lead the deck, and they have really neat effects that synergize incredibly well. Given that the only thing these guys want you to do other than fish for the rest of their team is 'play non-creature spells' there are a bazillion ways you could go with this deck, and I like that kind of versatility.
1. Killian, Decisive Mentor
True, he's not the most original creature on this list, but I had to pop Killian in top spot for more-or-less being a better version of one of the most popular commanders we've seen in recent years. We already had an amazing Orzhov card that wants you to pop enchantments on your enemies' creatures in Eriette of the Charmed Apple. Killian is very similar, but the subtle differences are important.
The Silverquill student does less to keep you safe, but he forces your opponents to attack each other with their enchanted creatures instead of just holding them back. And he provides card draw, something sorely needed for an archetype that's firing out lots of low-cost enchantments. Take your Eriette decks and put the commander into the 99: Killian is the perfect replacement.