(Gyruda, Doom of Depths | Art by Tyler Jacobson)

Your Companion Companion Guide

Three years after the release of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, let's take a look back at the most popular Companions and see which ones should see more play and which decks might be a better fit for them.

In this article I take a look at every “playable" Companion in the format; apologies to the Lutri and Yorion fans out there. I'm taking a look at the decks these Companions appear in most and which underrated decks might be a good fit for them. 

Today, we look at the eight Commander-legal Companions and some commanders that don't yet appear on their page. Are any of these a better fit than the way the Companions are currently being played? Let's find out, starting with the most popular Companion in the format.

Kaheera, the Orphanguard (4,622 Decks)

Top Commander: Arahbo, Roar of the World

Kaheera's top decks are primarily themed around specific creature types, but I'm going to take a page out of the constructed format playbook for this build. Kaheera sees play in a variety of random decks as an extra card simply because the deck runs so few or even zero creatures. Luckily, there is a strategy in Selesnya (green, white) colors that has just that criteria and it lets us reach back to a Commander classic. Uril, the Miststalker is a Voltron commander built around Auras, and it can kill quickly with only eighteen creatures on average.

Our Companion's ability wouldn't just be flavor text in this deck, either. One of the downfalls of a deck with so few creatures is not being able to keep back a defense. The vigilance our Companion provides lets us block and defend with Uril, and the +1/+1 is effectively +2/+2 when paired with double strike. Many of the best utility creatures for this deck fit the requirement as well without having to give up much. Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar lets us take down multiple opponents at once. Aura Gnarlid gives us an alternate Voltron option if we aren't able to keep our commander alive, not to mention the myriad of Cats that work in this strategy, such as Ajani's Chosen.

My pick: Uril, the Miststalker

Jegantha, the Wellspring (2,847 Decks)

Top Commander: Jared Carthalion

Jegantha is perhaps the most difficult to come up with a new take on. It's obviously powerful, more so for its easy-to-meet restriction than its raw power. It also can only fit into five-color decks, meaning there are only a few decks that it can fit in that aren't already on its page.

Most of the decks this will go in will be generic good-stuff five-color decks, but there is one deck that can use it in perhaps the most fair way possible. Cromat has a variety of activated abilities that give us an excuse to use this mana without just playing the best cards in all five colors. Is it the strongest? No. Is it weird and wacky? Yes, and that's the spirit of this exercise.

I wouldn't recommend bending over backwards to go deep down the commander list on this Companion. In fact, this is one I don't think is usually worth building around unless you accidentally meet the requirement and can include it. Nevertheless, Cromat is the most unique way we can build around this.

My pick: Cromat

Keruga, the Macrosage (1,168 Decks)

Top Commander: Inga and Esika

If you've played with this card, you know you really have to make turn three. You give up a lot when you agree to not play anything on the first two turns of the game. I think it's important to have a commander that we reliably have on turn three no matter what. This immediately drew me to Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood. Brinelin, the Moon Kraken is the most popular pick to pair here, but I prefer to go with a more powerful partner in Sakashima of a Thousand Faces. It can copy our powerful creatures or even Wither our commander or Companion for extra value. It's important that we are able to accelerate to catch up.

These colors give us a variety of effects that we can cast before turn two but have higher mana costs. Channel cards, such as Colossal Skyturtle and Boseiju, Who Endures, give us options for removal to slow down our opponents, and lands like Myriad Landscape give us ramp options on turn two where we otherwise would not be able to.

My pick: Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood and Sakashima of a Thousand Faces

Obosh, the Preypiercer (1,141 Decks)

Top Commander: Tor Wauki the Younger

The only thing I don't love about this card is the awkward play pattern of not being able to put it into your hand on turn two as well as playing a three-drop. Everything else about this card is awesome. Aggro strategies can be hard to make work in Commander but this gives us access to a finisher every single game. That's just what this card is, it's powerful enough that it doesn't have to be around all game, but you can treat it like an Overrun effect.

Card advantage can be hard to come by in this color combo and with an aggressive strategy, but we can use partners for some baked-in extra card advantage. Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful and Vial Smasher the Fierce give us some extra direction to build around with a Legendary theme. Not only do we get to include other strong legends such as Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, but we can also include Commander staples such as Esper Sentinel.

My pick: Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful and Vial Smasher the Fierce

Lurrus of the Dream-Den (994 Decks)

Top Commander: Bjorna, Nightfall Alchemist and Wernog, Rider's Chaplain

The bane of many a constructed format, this card and most popular commander combo are one I have built around before. This restriction is not as tough as it seems. We have access to powerful spells from across the history of Magic such as Ad Nauseam and Teferi's Protection, which are welcome includes despite their mana cost. We can rely on our spells to be the heavy hitters while our creatures are the role players.

Not only that, but we can even break the rules a bit with double-sided cards. Shaile, Dean of Radiance costs two on the front side, and that's all that matters to us. We can play Embrose, Dean of Shadow as a bigger creature when needed. However, the front side is stronger at making our creatures more relevant. We can then cast the back side in the late game for extra value. This card is so much value that even being able to loop Mishra's Bauble a few times or grab our Skullclamp that was destroyed can be enough to win the game. This is one that will frequently be worth casting early for value.

My pick: Shaile, Dean of Radiance

Umori, the Collector (935 Decks)

Top Commander: Henzie "Toolbox" Torre

Umori's colors make the all creature strategy much more viable than it initially appears. Murderous Rider, Beanstalk Giant, and Order of Midnight give us a variety of spell effects that are still on creatures. Ravenous Chupacabra and Reclamation Sage give us access to removal while Endurance provides protection against graveyard strategies.

We can even play a noncreature card as a commander… well kinda. Grist, the Hunger Tide is a hilarious way to break the rules without actually breaking any here. For all intents and purposes this is a creature, but it warps the game around it like any planeswalker would once it is in play. Umori is a great rate, but it also provides enough of an advantage to be worth playing early.

My pick: Grist, the Hunger Tide

Gyruda, Doom of Depths (640 Decks)

Top Commander: Be'lakor, the Dark Master

It's quite the shame that Hidetsugu and Kairi does not meet the deck requirement, because the Brainstorm attached would be very strong here. Runo Stromkirk is another contender who unfortunately does not function. Wrexial, the Risen Deep does fulfill the requirements and gives us some direction with the sea monster theme. Most of these creatures are naturally huge and great targets for this Companion. Hitting even just one of Spawning Kraken or Stormtide Leviathan can be enough to close out the game.

The even mana restriction is arguably easier to build around than the odd requirement as it lets us still play Dimir Signet and even Mana Crypt if we have one. It also opens up the option to put our Companion in our hand on turn three with less downside.

My pick: Wrexial, the Risen Deep

Zirda, the Dawnwaker (231 decks)

Top Commander: Codie, Vociferous Codex

Zirda was the inspiration for this article. The least played Companion is easier to build around than most people seem to think. Many of the top played creatures are either mana dorks or cards with activated abilities that ramp such as Sakura-Tribe Elder and Deathrite Shaman. Not only that, but we also just gained the perfect commander for this strategy with Tazri, Stalwart Survivor.

This build makes Biomancer's Familiar and Dynaheir, Invoker Adept all-stars. It also lets us leverage Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy in a unique way as this commander turns all our creatures into mana dorks.

My pick: Tazri, Stalwart Survivor

What do you think?

Which Companion/commander combos have you built? Which underrated commanders work well with your favorite Companion? I want to hear in the comments below!

Benjamin Nicol

Ben is a Michigan native who fell in love with Magic just a few years ago in 2019. He loves making big splashy plays in Commander as well as crunching the number to optimize his decks. Outside of Magic, he works in marketing and loves a great cup of coffee to start each morning… maybe with a splash of hot chocolate for his sweet tooth.