The Best Dimir – Blue/Black

Summary

• Dimir is renowned for control and mill strategies in Magic: The Gathering, offering a range of powerful commanders.
• Popular Dimir commanders include Mirko, Gisa and Geralf, and Nymris, each bringing unique strengths and tactics to the deck.
• Powerful new options like Tasha, Umbris, and Phenax offer exciting gameplay mechanics, adding versatility to Dimir commander decks.

Often regarded for powerful strategies ranging from control to mill, Dimir (blue/black) is one of the most iconic color identities in Magic: The Gathering. Usually associated with themes such as stealth and the pursuit of forbidden knowledge, Dimir is a multifarious color identity that has a great deal of utility under its belt in formats like Commander.

As Dimir has been receiving legendary creatures since their inception in Magic Legends, players have a wide variety of commanders to choose from. These commanders also include many popular creature-type favorites including Vampires, Rogues, Zombies, Faeries, and more. Needless to say, there are many ways to build a Dimir commander deck. Let’s take a look at the best commanders for them.

Updated March 21, 2025, by Ryan Hay: There are few better two color combinations in Magic than the blue and black synergies of Dimir. Between the control that these colors bring, both in the form of counter spells and removal, you can keep the battlefield clear of any threats coming your way. If you want something new to run, you can always try your hand with either Vren, the Relentless, Xanathar, Guild Kingpin, and Etrata, Deadly Fugitive at the helm of your deck.

21

Mirko, Obsessive Theorist

Bring Creatures Back For An Encore

Dimir rarely lets a creature rest once it enters the graveyard, and with Mirko, you have a reanimation effect built right into your command zone. There are some stipulations, however, but it’s relatively easy to meet them.

Mirko, Obsessive Theorist lets you return a creature from your graveyard to the battlefield, so long as that creature’s power is less than Mirko’s. This trigger happens at your end step, so you have your whole turn to set up a pump spell to get Mirko’s power higher. Whether it be through equipment, auras, or Vampire kindred bonuses, as you tick that power higher you get to return stronger and stronger creatures.

20

Gisa And Geralf

The Reanimator Siblings

Due to Dimir being composed of black and blue, the color pairing has access to some of the best Zombies in all of Magic. Though you may expect a Zombie to be the commander of a Zombie deck, Gisa and Geralf are necromancers that prove an exception to the rule.

Gisa and Geralf possess two synergistic abilities that each pair quite well with Zombie-based strategies whilst remaining unapologetically Dimir. Upon entering the battlefield, Gisa and Geralf put the top four cards of your library into your graveyard.

This ability is perfect ammunition for any Zombie deck, and Gisa and Geralf come with the added bonus of allowing you to cast a Zombie from your graveyard each turn, providing Zombie commander decks with redundancy and a constant means of reanimation.

19

Nymris, Oona’s Trickster

Fill Your Hand And Your Graveyard

Nymris serves as a great source of card advantage while simultaneously stocking your graveyard with potential goodies for you to reanimate later. Thanks to her wording specifying “each opponent”, you can benefit from Nymris’ trigger up to three times per round if you happen to have enough instant speed spells and the mana to cast them.

Due to her ability, Nymris is best used alongside a deck full of flash creatures so that you can trigger this ability as often as possible. Besides, who doesn’t like playing all of their spells at instant speed? It’s kind of like getting the last word in during an argument.

18

Runo Stromkirk // Krothuss, Lord of the Deep

Half Vampire, Half Kracken

Innistrad is a strange plane. Nothing there is quite as simple as it seems and even the Vampries are a little more than what they appear. Runo Stormkirk is a 1-2 punch in the command zone, letting you set up a strong turn or two with its enter the battlefield effect and trigger.

When it comes into play you get to return a creature from your graveyard to the top of your deck. At the start of your next upkeep, if that card has a mana value of six or more, you can transform him into Krothuss. There the deck takes a shift, letting you create tapped and attacking tokens of another of your attacking creatures. If that creature happens to be a Kracken, Leviathan, Octopus, or Serpent, you make two tokens instead.

17

Talion, The Kindly Lord

Niceities End When The Game Starts

One of the more interesting commanders printed in recent years, Talion, the Kindly Lord punishes your opponents for playing the wrong spell, with you getting to decide what the wrong spell is. When Talion comes into play, you get to pick a number from one to ten. Anytime an opponent casts a spell with mana value equal to the number you pick, or they cast a creature with either power or toughness equal to the number you picked, that player loses two life and you get to draw a card.

Two or three are good numbers to call out with Talion, since there is a higher density of cards with those matching numbers.

Keep a good eye on your opponent’s commanders before committing a number to Talion, as you want to find common factors between them all. You don’t have to pick the same number every time, you can adjust Talion every time you have him come into play to match what the table is playing.

16

Toxrill, The Corrosive

A Serious Threat With Little Escape

Printed in Innistrad: Crimson Vow alongside Umbris, while Toxrill, the Corrosive may cost a hefty seven mana, once cast it is capable of single-handedly taking over a Commander game. Toxrill is a 7/7 Slug Horror that puts a slime counter on each creature you don’t control during each end step, providing each creature with -1/-1 for each slime counter on it.

As this ability triggers on each player’s end step and not just your own, in a multiplayer format like Commander this can provide each opponent’s creatures with -4/-4 after a single turn rotation. While this would already be quite devastating, whenever a creature with a slime counter on it dies, Toxrill’s controller creates a 1/1 Slug token, converting opponents’ creatures into a Slug army.

As if this wasn’t powerful enough, for the cost of two mana, you can sacrifice a Slug in order to draw a card. All hail our new Slug overlords.

15

Tasha, The Witch Queen

The Planeswalker Commander Queen

A planeswalker capable of being your commander, Tasha, the Witch Queen is an excellent option that not only allows you to cast your opponents’ spells but rewards you for doing so. With two activated abilities, this four-loyalty planeswalker’s +1 allows you to exile an instant or sorcery from each opponent’s graveyard with page counters on them, drawing you a card in the process.

Once in exile, Tasha’s -3 allows you to cast a spell with a page counter on it without paying its mana cost! In addition to potentially allowing you to cast an opponent’s strongest spells for free, Tasha’s static ability creates 3/3 Demon tokens whenever you cast a spell you don’t own, converting these stolen spells into additional manpower.

14

Umbris, Fear Manifest

Nightmares Are Real

A fascinating commander to really disrupt your opponent’s game play, Umbris, Fear Manifest, takes your opponent’s cards and eliminates them from the game, all while making Umbris even stronger.

Anytime Umbris, or another Nightmare or Horror creature enters the battlefield under your control, you get to exile cards from the top of their deck until they hit a land card. While you can a land almost immediately, only exiling one card, you can also burn through pockets of impactful spells, exiling handfuls of cards at a time.

Umbris gets stronger all the while too, giving it +1/+1 for each card your opponents own in exile, which can quickly turn them into a powerhouse on the battlefield. Give them some type of evasion and there’s a good chance you can start kicking players out of the game with just one attack.

13

Phenax, God Of Deception

The God Of Mill

While numerous entrants on this list possess milling capabilities, they all pale in comparison to Phenax, God of Deception. The Dimir God of Theros, Phenax possesses indestructibility, making him a huge hassle to remove.

More importantly, Phenax gives each of your creatures the ability to mill an opponent a number of cards equal to their toughness. This is an extremely powerful and repeatable mill engine that pairs incredibly well with Phenax’s own toughness of seven.

12

Anowon, The Ruin Thief

The Slow Mill

Anowon, the Ruin Thief is a commander that single-handedly brought Rogue creature-type decks from obscurity to one of the most popular strategies for a Dimir deck. A 2/4 Vampire Rogue for four mana, Anowon provides each other Rogue under its owner’s control with +1/+1, causing players dealt combat damage by Rogues to mill a number of cards equal to the amount of damage dealt.

As Rogues are often characterized by their evasive and hard-to-block nature, Anowon allows for additional damage to be pushed through whilst filling opponents’ graveyards, enabling potent Dimir effects that allow you to access cards in an opponent’s graveyard.

11

Jon Irenicus, Shattered One

Sow Chaos Across The Board

Printed in Commander Legends, Battle for Baldur’s Gate, Jon Irenicus, Shattered One is an underrated and incredibly unique commander that allows for decks unlike any other. A 3/3 Elf Wizard for four mana, during each of your end steps, you can give an opponent control over one of your creatures, putting two +1/+1 counters on it, and goading it for the rest of the game.

As this creature is perpetually goaded, it will be attacking your other opponents and not inconveniencing you in any way. Moreover, Jon Irenicus prevents creatures that you’ve given to opponents from being sacrificed while also drawing you cards whenever they attack. Not only does this function as a consistent and snowballing draw engine, but as there are a plethora of creatures with effects detrimental to their controller that have been printed throughout Magic’s history. Jon Irenicus can be used to force them onto opponents while they remain unable to sacrifice them.

10

Alela, Cunning Conqueror

Trickery Like No Other

If you want to cause some chaos on the battlefield, go ahead and give Alela, Cunning Conqueror a try. This commander is designed to play as many spells as you can during your opponent’s turns, accruing value by turning the first spell you cast during each of your opponent’s turns into a creature as well. Each time you cast the first spell on an opponent’s turn, you get a 1/1 flying Faerie Rogue token.

Then, when a Faerie you control deals combat damage to a player, you goad one of their creatures. All you have to do is gum up the board and start sending Faeries to each of your opponents, slowly whittling down their life totals while sending their creatures at each other and avoiding the biggest threats.

9

Lord Of The Nazgûl

Let No One Suffer Their Gaze

A surprisingly powerful commander given the more limited nature of the card, Lord of the Nazgul is a Wraith-based commander, giving your Wraith creatures a huge boost in power and toughness anytime you cast an instant or sorcery spell. When you do cast one either an instant or sorcery, you get to create a 3/3 Wraith token with menace, which is great since there’s not many Wraith creatures in Magic.

Then, if you have nine or more Wraiths, all of your Wraith creatures become 9/9s, thematically fitting the nine fallen human kings who succumbed to the temptation of power by Sauron. Having such a powerful engine built into itself makes the Lord of the Nazgul a self contained unit, letting you jam your deck full of cantrips and cheap spells so you can flood the board with an army.

8

Satoru Umezawa

Everyone Is A Ninja Now

Printed in Kamigawa, Neon Dynasty, Satoru Umezawa is a great Dimir commander that allows you to cheat out high-cost creatures without needing to pay their mana costs, whilst offering notable card selection. For the efficient cost of three mana, Satoru Umezawa is a 2/4 Human Ninja that provides all creatures in your hand with a Ninjitsu cost of four mana, meaning that you can put them directly into play by replacing an unblocked creature you control.

Moreover, the first time you activate a Ninjitsu ability each turn (something Satoru ensures you’ll have no problem doing), you can look at the top three cards of your library, putting one in your hand and the rest into your graveyard. This means that not only can this commander help you put the likes of a Blightsteel Colossus onto the battlefield for four mana, but it also ensures you’ll have access to more ideal cards for your subsequent turns.

7

The Scarab God

Everything Is Yours

By and large the most powerful Zombie commander, The Scarab God shares a lot in common with Yuriko thanks to its ability to use creatures of the corresponding creature type to gain huge sums of value. At the beginning of your upkeep, The Scarab God scries X and deals X damage to each opponent where X is equal to the number of Zombies you control.

While this ability is quite close in power level to that of Yuriko, we rate it as being slightly more powerful due to The Scarab God’s ability not requiring attacks to be made. Additionally, there are more than a couple of ways to generate an infinite army of Zombie tokens. If you happen to have the Scarab God in play when this happens, you just win the game on the spot.

6

Xanathar, Guild Kingpin

Everything Comes With A Price

A rather expensive commander mana cost wise, Xanathar, Guild Kingpin more than makes up for it with an incredibly strong ability that will absolutely disrupt the table. At the start of your upkeep, you get to pick one of your favorite opponents. That player becomes locked out of the game this turn, not being able to cast spells for the turn.

You then take a peek at the top card of their deck anytime you like on your turn, playing the top card of their deck. You can keep playing cards and at least one land from here until you’ve run out of mana, since you still have to pay costs for the spells, but specific mana colors don’t matter anymore. Xanathar unfortunely doesn’t have any protection built in, so make sure you have something out to keep him from being removed too quickly.

5

Etrata, Deadly Fugitive

From The Shadows

If you’re on the hunt for something new from your Commander deck, you can’t go wrong with running Etrata, Deadly Fugitive at the head of your deck. This three-mana Assassin lets you steal cards from your opponents anytime an Assassin deals combat damage to an opponent.

Cloak lets you place a card facedown as a 2/2 creature with ward 2.

This commander got a huge boost with the release the Assassin’s Creed Universes Beyond set, with cards like:

• Roshan, Hidden Magister
• Rooftop Bypass​​​
• Achilles Davenport

Anything to boost the damage of your Assassins makes this surprising kindred-based commander a powerhouse.

4

Captain N’ghathrod

You Can’t Comprehend These Horrors

A great Horror creature-type commander option, Captain N’ghathrod blends evasion, mill, and the ability to steal opponents’ permanents from their graveyard to form a commander that has garnered a lot of popularity since its recent printing. In addition to providing each Horror you control with menace, whenever a Horror you control deals combat damage to an opponent, they mill that many cards, similar to Anowan’s ability.

However, perhaps the most powerful element of Captain N’ghathrod is that at the beginning of your end step, you can gain control of an artifact or creature an opponent milled that turn, allowing you to repeatedly steal some of your opponent’s most useful cards as you mill them away with your Horrors.

3

Vren, The Relentless

Relentless Rats Ruin Runs

Commanders that come with a built in protection like ward 2 are already a cut above many other legendary creatures and Vren, the Relentless is a fascinating card to run. Vren is mostly a Rat-based kindred commander, though you don’t really need to run the typical kindred suite to make him work.

At the start of each end step, so four times every round, Vren checks to see if a creature one of your opponents controls has been exiled. If one or more has, Vren makes a 1/1 Rat token that gets +1/+1 for each other Rat you control for each exiled creature. Since Vren exiles creatures automatically, you can easily spam out tokens turn after turn. Though Dimir lacks any of the token doubling effects that green and white get, there is tons of potential to swarm over the board in no time.

2

Wilhelt, The Rotcleaver

This Zombie Won’t Decay

While Dimir Zombie decks have been quite popular for some time now, Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver is a relatively new Zombie commander option that some believe is in contention for being the best. A 3/3 Zombie Warrior for four mana, Wilhelt states that whenever a Zombie under your control that doesn’t have decayed dies, you create a 2/2 Zombie token with decayed.

This synergizes in amazing fashion with the recursion that Zombie decks are known for. Wilhelt can even help convert these disposable tokens into card draw, allowing you to sacrifice a Zombie at the end of your turn in order to draw a card.