The Best Grixis – Blue/Black/Red

Summary

• Grixis offers powerful card draw, control, and removal options for Commander decks.
• Some unique Commanders with innovative strategies like ending turns and preventing spells are highlighted.
• Legendary creatures like Nicol Bolas and Nakusar add versatility and power to Commander decks.

The Commander format in Magic: The Gathering has players construct decks around key legendary creatures, providing decks with distinct identities and consistency through a constantly available card. Your choice of Commander not only influences your deck’s strategy but also dictates the types of cards a deck can contain: a Commander deck can only include cards within a Commander’s color identity.

The Grixis color identity of black, blue, and red has access to some of the best card draw effects, great control options, and stellar removal. So today, we will examine the legendary Grixis creatures from Magic’s history and see which make for the strongest Commanders.

Updated on March 21, 2025 by Ryan Hay: Grixis brings with it a very strong combination of mana work around, counter spells, and more removal than your opponents can deal with. If you’re thinking of building a new Commander deck, or you want to retool a deck into something new, you’ve come to the right place. Three very unique commanders join this list, Obeka, Splitter of Seconds, Edward Kenway, and Wick, the Whorled Mind, each one bringing a unique strategy to your game.

18

Missy

The Master Returns

The Universes Beyond: Doctor Who collection brought a lot of really cool commanders to the party, but few are as versatile as Missy is. This six mana creature lets you keep everyone’s creatures alive, in a way, by bringing any nonartifact creature that dies back to the battlefield under your control face down, but as a 2/2 Cyberman artifact creature. With this ability, Missy all but shuts down graveyard strategies, or anything that relies on sacrificing creatures over and over again.

As if that wasn’t enough, Missy also forces your opponents to make a choice on your end step, they either take damage equal to the number of artifact creatures you control, or you draw a card and activate the chaos ability of the plane you’re on if you’re playing Planeschase games. Most of the time players will let you draw a card, but that means you have the potential to draw up to three cards a turn with Missy.

17

Saruman, The White Hand

Amass All Game Long

Turning all your spells into a creature is a pretty darn good gameplan, and with Saruman, the White Hand, you can amass a huge army in no time. Everytime you cast a noncreature spell, you get to amass Orcs X, either creating an Orc Army token with X +1/+1 counters on it, or adding that many counters to an existing Army token. The more spells you cast, the bigger of a creature you get at the end.

Once you have a sufficiently large enough creature, you just need a way to send it in without being blocked, like with a Rogue’s Passage or any other card that can make it unblockable. Loading your deck up with all sorts of draw spells is a good plan, as well as a way to Fling your Orc Army token is a hilarious way to end a game.

16

Admiral Beckett Brass

Drink Up Me Hearties

Admiral Beckett Brass is the premier Commander option for those looking to play a Grixis Pirate deck. A 3/3 for four mana that provides all other Pirates with +1/+1, Admiral Beckett Brass states that during its controller’s end step, its controller can gain control of any nonland permanent controlled by a player that was dealt combat damage by three or more pirates.

While this ability is quite powerful, connecting in combat with three or more pirates within a single turn is easier said than done. Nobody said the pirating life was easy. With more Pirates than ever in Magic though, this ability only becomes more powerful.

15

Jeleva, Nephalia’s Scourge

A 1/3 Vampire Wizard for four mana, Jeleva Naphalia’s Scourge is a Commander that allows you to play your opponent’s instants and sorceries. Upon entering the battlefield, each player exiles a number of cards from the top of their libraries equal to the amount of mana spent to cast Jeleva.

This means that if Jeleva is removed and re-cast, additional cards are exiled, thanks to Commander Tax. This ability is key, as Jeleva allows you to cast instants and sorceries exiled with her without paying their mana costs, providing a great deal of potential card access.

14

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist

Get Value Even From The Command Zone

A solid option for a Grixis Wizard deck that can make use of great “enter the battlefield” triggers of Wizards. Inalla, Archmage Ritualist, can have a solid impact on a game without being cast, thanks to its eminence ability.

Whenever you cast a Wizard spell, as long as Inalla is in play or in the Command Zone, you can pay an additional mana to create a token copy of that Wizard that has haste and is exiled at the end of the turn. For only one mana, this ability can provide substantial value. Additionally, once in play, this four-mana Wizard can help directly deal damage, allowing five untapped Wizards to be tapped to reduce a player’s life total by seven.

13

Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor

Curses Only Last ‘Til The End Of The Game

Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor is the premier Commander option for curse decks. While one of the most notable problems for curse decks in the past was that when a cursed player lost the game, those curses would be removed from play, Lynde fixes this problem.

A 2/4 with deathtouch for four mana, Lynde states that if a curse under its owner’s control would be put into a graveyard, it is returned to the battlefield attached to its owner at the beginning of the next end step. While cursing yourself may not initially seem the most beneficial, Lynde states that at the beginning of your upkeep, you can move a curse attached to you to another player, drawing two cards in the process!

12

Nicol Bolas, The Ravager

One Part Dragon, One Part Planeswalker

Nicol Bolas, the Ravager is a double-sided Commander, entering the battlefield as a legendary creature and capable of later transforming into a Planeswalker. A 4/4 Dragon with flying for four mana, upon entering the battlefield, Bolas causes each opponent to discard a card. If you pay its activated ability cost of seven mana, it transforms into the powerful and flexible Planeswalker, Nicol Bolas, the Arisen.

As a Planeswalker, Bolas has four activated abilities, capable of drawing cards, removing creatures or Planeswalkers, returning creatures from graveyards to the battlefield, or even exiling a player’s library with its ultimate ability.

11

Obeka, Brute Chronologist

A Rule Breaking Commander

A deceptively powerful Commander introduced in Commander Legends, Obeka, Brute Chronologist is a 3/4 Ogre Wizard that may be tapped to immediately end its controller’s turn. While this may not seem like much at first, as the turn is ended immediately, any spells and abilities on the stack are exiled.

This means that Obeka can be used to negate negative effects and clauses of spells, namely those that occur during the end step. As soon as the end step begins, Obeka can be tapped to cancel those effects as the turn ends.

10

Abaddon The Despoiler

Cascade Into The Warp

Headlining the Ruinous Powers Universes Beyond Warhammer 40K Commander deck, Abaddon the Despoiler is an excellent Commander for those looking to deal serious damage to their opponents and maximize the impact of each spell they cast. A 5/5 with trample for six mana, Abaddon provides each spell you cast with Cascade as long as that spell’s mana value is less than or equal to the amount of damage you’ve dealt to your opponents that turn.

This means that if you’re capable of dealing damage to opponents with creatures or burn spells, each subsequent spell you cast will automatically provide significant additional value, allowing you to essentially cast an additional spell directly from your deck with no additional mana cost required.

9

Wick, The Whorled Mind

Rats And Snails Coming Together

A rather unique commander to bring to the table, Wick, the Whorled Mind is a Rat deck at its core. Casting a Rat spell, or Wick themselves, you get to make a 1/1 Snail creature token so long as you don’t already have a Snail out. If you do, you get to put a +1/+1 counter on one of your Snails. this type of repeated creature generation works nicely in a sacrifice deck, where you can let those Snails serve a higher cause by making mana or being used for spells.

Wick has one of these abilities built in, letting you pay one blue, black, and red mana along side sacrificing a Snail to have Wick deal damage equal to that Snail to each opponent, while you draw cards equal to that value. If you have been looking for a new Kindred deck to build, you can’t do much better than Wick.

8

Marchesa, The Black Rose

The Throne Belongs To You

A Commander that makes your creatures hard to deal with, Marchesa, the Black Rose, is a 3/3 with dethrone for four mana, providing each creature under your control with dethrone. As dethrone puts +1/+1 counters on creatures whenever they attack the player with the highest life total, Marchesa reliably puts +1/+1 counters on aggressive creatures.

This synergizes in impressive fashion with the card’s last ability, which states that if a creature with a +1/+1 counter on it under its owner’s control would die, that creature is returned to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.

7

Anhelo, The Painter

Just A Small Sacrifice

The Commander of the Maestros Massacre preconstructed Commander deck, Anhelo, the Painter, is a wonderful Grixis Commander option that can allow you to easily copy some of the strongest spells in the game’s history. A 1/3 with deathtouch for the reasonable cost of three mana, Anehlo states that whenever you cast your first instant or sorcery each turn, the spell gains casualty 2.

This means that if you sacrifice a creature with a power of two or greater, you may copy that spell. An Anhelo deck can easily double the potency of already great spells, such as those that provide significant damage, card advantage, or even access to additional turns.

6

Edward Kenway

A Triple Threat

Coming from the Assassin’s Creed Universes Beyond set is Edward Kenway, a Human Assassin Pirate that works to get your Assassins, Pirates, and Vehicles in tip-top shape. Edward makes Treasure tokens equal to the combined total of all your tapped cards of those three types in play, netting you plenty of loot to use on your next turn.

Then, when one of your Vehicles deals combat damage to a player, you get to go looking at the top card of that player’s library, exiling it face down. You get to play that card so long as its exile, so you have all sorts of options available to you. Edward lets you play lands as well as spells this way, so you get all sorts of ways to pull ahead of your opponents.

5

Be’lakor, The Dark Master

Become A Demon On The Battlefield

Demons have long been known as high-impact and high-value black creatures with powerful abilities. However, they’ve long lacked a proper Commander to unify them under one banner. Enter Be’lakor, the Dark Master. Though this may appear to have a steep mana cost of six mana, it offers great value immediately upon entering the battlefield. Additionally, it continues to contribute to your strategy once it’s in play. A 6/5 with flying, upon entering the battlefield, you draw a number of cards and lose an amount of life equal to the number of Demons you control.

This means that if you’ve been playing Demons on your turns prior to casting Be’lakor, it can immediately refill your hand with new spells to cast. Once in play, whenever another Demon enters the battlefield under your control, you can immediately deal damage equal to its power to any target. Not only can this allow Demons to double as removal, but by pointing this damage directly at opponents, your Demons will quickly close out games.

4

Obeka, Splitter Of Seconds

Keep Those Triggers Going

There are tons of ways to break Obeka, Splitter of Seconds and it takes very little to get there. Once Obeka deals combat damage to a player, you get to take an extra upkeep step, triggering all those upkeep-based effects for a second time in a turn.

The list of cards in blue, black, and red that can benefit from this trigger is huge and includes:

• Count on Luck
• As Foretold
• Dragonmaster Outcast
• Plargg and Nassari

Even if you have a few effects out, they’re typically very powerful, and when combined with effects that let you take extra turns, you can stack them over and over again to take over the game.

3

Nekusar, The Mindrazer

It’s Basically A Group Hug Deck

A premier Commander option for Wheel decks, Nakusar, the Mindrazer is a 2/4 for five mana that causes each player to draw an additional card at the beginning of their turns.

While this would normally be beneficial, Nekusar causes opponents to lose one life whenever they draw cards. When paired with effects that cause each player to draw several cards such as wheel effects, Nekusar can deal serious damage at an alarming speed.

2

Sauron, The Dark Lord

The Ring Returns

Every now and then Magic prints an incredibly powerful legendary creature that is just absurd at every level. Saruon, the Dark Lord can be near impossible to kill with a spell thanks to a devastation ward effect, forcing them to sacrifice a legendary artifact or creature. Then, anytime any opponent casts any spell at all, you get to amass Orcs 1.

As if that wasn’t enough, damaging an opponent with an Army creature causes the Ring to tempt you, granting you up to four benefits for you and your Ring-Bearer. And finally, any time you’re tempted by the Ring, you can pitch your hand to the graveyard and draw four new cards, all but guaranteeing you can dig for whatever spell you might need.

1

Kess, Dissident Mage

Never Waste A Spell Again

While simplistic, Kess, Dissident Mage, is an incredibly powerful Commander that allows you to gain additional value from the strongest instants and sorceries in the game. A 3/4 with flying for four mana, Kess allows you to cast an instant or sorcery from your graveyard on each of your turns, exiling that card in the process.

Effectively providing each instant and sorcery in your deck with flashback, this ability allows for explosive plays. Additionally, it doubles the usefulness you can get out of each instant and sorcery you can cast. This is especially good with high-impact spells like Time Warp, for example, as you can take extra turns repeatedly at no additional cost to your resources.