As if having one ambiguously terrifying creature type in Horror wasn’t enough,Magic: The Gatheringdecided to add a second: the enigmatic Nightmare type. These creatures are dark manifestations of our innermost fears, and take forms ranging from haunting Spirits to twisted, malformed Beasts.
The majority of Nightmares can strike terror into the hearts of your opponents with their artwork alone, but for some that fear factor extends into their text boxes too. If you’re looking to turn your Commander table into a recreation of Bloodborne’s shrieking streets, then these are the Nightmares for the job: the otherworldly abominations you want leading the charge.
10Lurrus Of The Dream-Den
Straight Outta The Ban List
One of themost infamous mechanical misfiresin all of Magic history, companion was an error on par with storm or dredge, and Lurrus was its poster child. Despite the companion errata that greatly reduced the card’s power level, it remains banned in Pioneer, Explorer, Modern, and even Legacy to this day. But not Commander.
This means you can put Lurrus at the head of an aggressive black/white deck and have an excellent time, without having to worry about his companion restriction to boot. The flexibility of his passive ability, which lets you recast artifacts and enchantments as well as creatures, really shines in the Commander format too.
9Chainer, Dementia Master
Don’t Forget His Name
Chainer may just be the dictionary definition of a glass cannon. He offers you an extremely efficient repeatable reanimation spell in his activated ability, which turns the risen creatures into Nightmares that benefit from his Lord effect, but on the other side of the coin, all of his misshapen minions melt away into exile as soon as Chainer himself leaves play.
For this reason protective Equipment, such as Darksteel Plate and Lightning Greaves, is an absolute must for any Chainer deck. Once you’ve established some solid defenses, Chainer will give you free rein over every graveyard in the game, letting you take your pick of the juiciest conscripts for your Nightmare legion.
8Kathril, Aspect Warper
A Steaming Bowl Of Keyword Soup
While a colossal, glowing ladybird is likely horrific enough for most, Kathril lets you take things even further by building your own custom monster using the keywords in your graveyard. When it enters play, you can distribute counters corresponding to up to 11 different keywords across your creatures, with Kathril receiving an additional +1/+1 counter for each.
You can leverage this effect in different ways, either stacking all of your available keywords onto Kathril itself to create a hard-to-stop commander damage machine, or distributing them across your board to force your opponents into headache-inducing combat math. In either case, it’s an extremely powerful commander that asks only that you fill your graveyard.
7Nethroi, Apex Of Death
The Animal Kingdom Of The Dead
Magic’s mana system is one of the main reasons it remains a more balanced game than its competitors, so cards that circumvent said system almost always court controversy. Nethroi can do just that with its mutate effect, which reanimates creatures based on their power rather than their mana cost.
Some expensive creatures, such as Herald of Leshrac and Bane of Progress, have immensely powerful effects but low power, making them ideal targets for a Nethroi reanimation burst. On the other hand, you could just bring back one huge Eldrazi monstrosity, depending on what you’re up against.
6Braids, Arisen Nightmare
Your Permanents Or Your Life?
Braids made her Frightful Return in Dominaria United, replacing her original banned-in-Commander incarnation from Odyssey in the process. And while both versions encourage aStax style of deck, in which everyone at the table sacrifices permanents and generally has a miserable time, Her nightmarish new form gives players more agency in the matter.
Rather than demanding a sacrifice every turn, Arisen Nightmare Braids lets your opponents opt to take damage and let you draw a card instead. This makes the card less infuriating to play against, but doesn’t stop it from being a powerful card advantage engine that can narrow the sights of its Edict effect when needed.
5Kaheera, The Orphanguard
God Help The Outcasts
Kaheera may not have the infamy of Lurrus when it comes to the companion cycle, but it’s still an excellent choice for a Nightmare commander. Kaheera serves as a Lord not just for Nightmares, but for Cats, Elementals, Dinosaurs, and Beasts as well, giving you a lot of options when putting together your deck.
You don’t need to rigidly stick to these five types when using Kaheera as a commander, but doing so will likely give you the best results. Grab as many aggressively-costed creatures of those types as you can find, throw them in with some other board-wide buff effects, and watch Kaheera make orphans of all of your opponents’ creatures.
4Tayam, Luminous Enigma
Turn Your Counters Into Cards
Tayam is a truly interesting little commander, both visually and mechanically. It grants all of your creatures that enter after it a vigilance counter, letting you keep your guard up while still playing aggressively, and also lets you trade in any three counters for a burst of self-mill and a small-scale reanimation effect.
Any deck that can consistently generate counters, be they +1/+1 or keyword counters, can benefit greatly from running Tayam at the helm, particularly if that deck also packs graveyard synergies that the self-mill effect effect can enable. Such a deck will likely be aggressive in nature, letting you play a different spin on Reanimator than the usual ‘Bring back your biggest creature’ model.
3Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar
A Loyal Companion For The Darkest Nights
Combining the raw existential terror of a Nightmare with the warmth and companionship of a Cat, Falthis is capable of warming your opponents’ hearts right before it tears them out. It grants all of your commanders, itself included, both menace and deathtouch: a deadly combination that forces your opponent to choose between taking damage or losing two creatures.
This pairs particularly well with certain key partners, such asAkiri, Line Slingeror Anara, Wolvid Familiar, both of whom make it very difficult for your opponents to stop your attacks profitably. Throw in some Auras and Equipment to buff your commanders up, and the damage will pile up quicker than anyone can respond to it.
2Umbris, Fear Manifest
Mill Their Minds Into Dust
One of the few dedicated Nightmare commanders in the game, Umbris lets you much on your opponents’ minds by exiling large chunks of their libraries each time you play it or another Nightmare. Umbris also grows rapidly each time this effect goes off, enabling a beatdown plan if the Mill one doesn’t work out.
There’s a good chance it will, though, given how easy it is to deck an opponent out with a cheap Nightmare and a blink engine. And if you can’t find enough Nightmares to staff your grisly mill, Umbris also worksjust as well with Horrors, giving you more options during deckbuilding.
1Zaxara, The Exemplary
The Card That Puts The X In Excellent
Zaxara, as the multiple Xs in its name implies, is a potent commander for decks that play a lot of spells with X in their mana costs. Not only does it tap for two mana itself, helping to boost your X spells both early and late, but it also gives you a free bonus Hydra with every X spell you cast.
This makes Zaxara excellent in any kind of black/green/blue Ramp shell where you overwhelm your opponents with constant titanic threats, since it lets you essentially double down on board presence whenever you go all-in on one. It also comes with a very reasonable mana cost and deathtouch, making it not-insignificant in combat to boot.
