Two of the most non-creature spell oriented colors in Magic: The Gathering are red and blue. Each possessing a great deal of synergies that utilize their powerful instant and sorceries, there is a deep well of potential when these colors work together to form the Izzet color pairing. Excelling in the areas of card draw and direct damage, Izzet decks are very capable in a variety of formats, including the much-beloved Commander format.
While there are numerous Izzet commanders for players to choose from, each comes alongside their own strengths and weaknesses. So today, we’re going to talk about the 15 strongest commander options players have access to when constructing an Izzet commander deck!
15 Jori En, Ruin Diver
As a multiplayer format, subtlety is often key in commander. Playing massive and impactful cards have the potential of immediately drawing the attention of other players, making one individual public enemy number one. It’s for this reason that commanders who slowly accumulate meaningful advantages over the course of the game with subtle nuance are often favorable to employ.
A straightforward commander, Jori En, Ruin Diver is a 2/3 merfolk wizard for three mana who draws a card for her controller each time they cast the second spell of a given turn. A reliable means of drawing additional cards each turn is very powerful, as it ensures Jori En’s controller will never run out of cards in hand and will always possess options and answers.
14 Dalakos, Crafter Of Wonders
One of the most recent Izzet commander to be printed at the time this list was written, Dalakos, Crafter of Wonders is a very strong choice for Izzet players who seek to utilize numerous artifacts, specifically equipments.
Capable of tapping for two colorless mana that can only be spent on artifacts and their respective abilities, Dalakos is a reliable and consistent source of mana ramp for an artifact deck.
Additionally, Dalakos provides all equipped creatures controlled by his owner with both flying and haste, providing a great deal of added benefits to each equipment in play.
13 Melek, Izzet Paragon
Few Izzet commanders truly encapsulate the pairing’s synergies with instants and sorceries quite like Melek, Izzet paragon.
Doubling the value of all instants and sorceries cast by Melek’s controller, Melek copies any and all instants and sorceries cast, allowing for the copies to be given different targets. Furthermore, while Melek does not draw its controller cards, it makes its controller play with the top card of their library revealed, and allows for them to cast the top card as long as it’s an instant or sorcery. This allows a Melek player to consistently chain together numerous cards, even if their hand runs dry.
12 Saheeli, The Gifted
Another artifact-centric commander like the aforementioned Dalakos, Saheeli, the Gifted is one of the few Planeswalkers who is capable of being used as a commander.
Sporting three abilities that each utilize artifacts in different ways, Saheeli is a flexible commander who can adapt to various situations on the fly. Capable of protecting herself and accumulating artifacts with a +1 ability that creates a 1/1 servo artifact creature token, Saheeli is also capable of reducing the cost of spells equal to the amount of artifacts under her owner’s control.
Lastly, in the instance that Saheeli’s controller is able to get her up to seven loyalty, her ultimate ability is capable of creating copies of each artifact under her owner’s control.
11 Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer
While red has been long associated with token strategies such as those found within goblin decks, Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer is a commander who puts an Izzet twist on classic token decks.
Providing each token with haste, Brudliclad creates a 2/1 myr token at the beginning of each of its controller’s combat steps. More importantly, however, is Brudiclad’s last ability. Each turn, Brudiclad allows its controller to choose a token they control and turn each other token into a copy of that token. There are numerous fun and interesting synergies that can be accomplished using Brudilcad due to the numerous blue spells capable of creating tokens that are tokens of other creatures.
10 Jhoira Of The Ghitu
Jhoira of the Ghitu is a commander that’s all about trading mana for time. For the cost of two mana, Jhoira can suspend cards, exiling them for four turns with four time counters on them, removing a counter at the beginning of each of its controller’s turns.
Jhoira allows for huge creatures with massive converted mana costs to be suspended for mere fractions of their mana costs, subverting a great deal of their costs. When working in conjunction with spells such as “Fury Charm” and “Timecrafting” that are capable of removing time counters, one would be hard-pressed to find more efficient means of playing massive creatures within the Izzet color identity.
9 Eruth, Tormented Prophet
An underrated option for a Storm commander, Eruth, Tormented Prophet was recently printed in Innistrad: Crimson Vow. A 2/4 human wizard for three mana, Eruth states that if its controller would draw a card, they instead exile the top two cards of their library and are able to play them. While Eruth prevents its controller from holding onto cards they would draw, when paired with efficient card draw spells, it can provide access to a significant number of cards within a single turn. This will allow you for explosive turns that enable Storm-based win conditions.
8 Galazeth Prismari
Galazeth Prismari is an Izzet elder dragon for four mana that synergizes with a blend of artifacts, instants, and sorceries. It’s also a solid choice for a Cheerios commander. A 3/4 with flying, upon entering the battlefield, Galazeth creates a treasure token.
While normally treasures are sacrificed to provide mana, Galazeth allows artifacts to be tapped to produce one mana of any color — though this mana can only be used to cast instants and sorceries. When paired with zero-mana artifacts that one would find in a Cheerios deck, Galazeth can allow a player to treat these artifacts as free to cast mana rocks.
7 Rielle, The Everwise
Printed in Ikoria, Rielle, the Everwise is a great Izzet commander that rewards a player for discarding cards, using wheel effects that cycle their entire hand, and using a high number of instants and sorceries. A 0/3 human wizard for three mana, Rielle gets +1/+0 for each instant and sorcery in its controller’s graveyard, allowing it to function as an offensive threat over the course of a game.
Most notably, Rielle states that when its controller would discard one or more cards for the first time each turn, they draw that many cards. This allows wheel effects to draw a Rielle player an excessive number of cards, creating huge and impactful plays.
6 Vadrik, Astral Archmage
Vadrik, Astral Archmage is a potent option for a commander, allowing a player to greatly reduce the costs of their instants and sorceries. While Vadrik can interact with the Day/Night mechanic of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, what’s truly important about the card is that as a 1/2 for three mana, Vadrik reduces the cost of all instants its controller would cast by an amount of mana equal to its power.
This means that if Vadrik’s controller can increase its power through the use of +1/+1 counters, auras, equipment cards, or even pump spells, Vadrik can provide massive discounts to one’s spells.
5 Mizzix Of The Izmagnus
One of the commanders from “Commander 2015” that utilize experience counters, Mizzix is a commander who utilizes experience counters to cast instant and sorceries with great efficiency.
Putting an experience counter on her controller each time they cast an instant or sorcery with converted mana cost greater than the number of experience counter on that player. As Mizzix accumulates experience counters, larger and larger spells can be cast for less and less mana. This goblin lets its controller subvert costs and discount their way to victory!
4 The Locust God
A commander capable of converting card draw into immediate board presence, The Locust God possesses a straightforward albeit powerful ability.
Whenever the Locust God’s controller draws a card, they create a 1/1 insect token with flying in haste. Capable of evading many blockers and attacking immediately, these tokens often come in great numbers and should not be taken lightly.
The Locust God synergizes well with “wheel” effects that cause their controller to discard their hand and draw a fresh batch of new cards, creating numerous new tokens to attack with.
3 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
While Niv-Mizzet has appeared in numerous incarnations, they’ve all followed a similar trend of drawing cards and dealing damage to players whenever cards are drawn. Niv Mizzet, Parun is the most powerful of the Niv-Mizzets available, possessing similar traits in the most effective manner.
Dealing one damage to any target whenever its controller draws a card, Niv-Mizzet draws its controller a card whenever any player casts an instant or sorcery. These two abilities can get out of hand at blistering speeds, as even the spells of opponents will cause new spells to be drawn, all whilst dealing direct damage to problematic creatures, Planeswalkers, and even players.
2 Veyran, Voice of Duality
Veyran, Voice of Duality is an extremely potent commander capable of doubling the value of already impactful effects. Veyran is able to deal significant damage over the course of a game, getting +1/+1 for each instant or sorcery its controller had cast or copied in a given turn.
However, the primary appeal of Veyran is that whenever its controller casting or copying an instant or sorcery spell causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time. This means that the likes of a Guttersnipe or Electrostatic Field are capable of dealing devastating damage over the course of a game, while cards like Birgi, god of Storytelling can provide incredible value.
1 Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain
An extremely capable commander, what Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain lacks in complicated abilities, she makes up for in pure value.
Drawing a card whenever an artifact, legendary spell, or saga is cast, Jhoira decks will almost never run out of cards to play, as each spell should ideally replace itself in that player’s hand upon being cast.
This incarnation of Jhoira is easily one of the strongest options for an artifact-based commander in the entire format, supplying a nearly unparalleled engine of card advantage.
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