All 17 Affinity Commanders in Magic Ranked

Last updated on January 30, 2026

Urza, Chief Artificer | Illustration by Bartlomiej Gawel

Hello Planeswalkers! I know that you have all come here because of your affinity for Magic. You should be rewarded for your devotion and desire to improve at this game we love. Today I take a look at the commanders that have some sort of affinity.

With so many great commanders at your disposal, why should you care about some commanders with affinity? In this world of ever-growing inflation, I don’t think I have to tell you why reducing the cost of your commander is a wonderful thing. With this in mind, let’s rank the affinity commanders and see if we can’t convince you to try some of them out.

What Are Affinity Commanders in MTG?

Emry, Lurker of the Loch | Illustration by Livia Prima

Affinity commanders are legendary creatures that can have their casting cost reduced based on the number of a specific card type you control. These rankings will include legendary creatures with the static ability “affinity” printed on them, and creatures whose casting cost can be reduced by controlling other specific types of cards.

A few cards could be considered similar, but this article will make a few distinctions. The “affinity” commanders in these rankings will have their casting costs reduced by the number of a specific card type you control on the battlefield.

I won’t worry about cards that can reduce their casting cost from card types in your graveyard like Karador, Ghost Chieftain. We also won’t look at commanders who can reduce their casting costs by sacrificing like The Balrog, Durin's Bane, or other discounting effects like Licia, Sanguine Tribune.

These rankings won’t solely be about artifacts, so if you need more information about that check out our separate rankings of artifacts and artifact commanders. With all those caveats and explanations, let’s get to the rankings!

#17. Bartz and Boko

There are lots of birds in Magic, however not in mono-green. Bartz and Boko and the ETB effect it gives are great, but it needs to be in the 99, not as the commander.

#16. The Dalek Emperor

The Dalek Emperor is our ultra-specific Rakdos commander for that rare Dalek deck. Confused? Me too, honestly. Daleks are cyborg aliens from Doctor Who, and therefore can only be found in the Universes Beyond Doctor Who MTG set. The Dalek Emperor is an expensive token-creating typal Commander that is more for fun than competition.

#15. Don & Raph, Hard Science

My affinity for Universes Beyond is showing because I see in Don & Raph, Hard Science, a tweaked firebending card. Commanders that need to attack in order to work have marks against them, but if you like the purple and red pair, it can put sorceries like Aminatou's Augury and Hell to Pay to great effect.

#14. Millicent, Restless Revenant

Spirit typal decks have always been a good go-to for Azorius commanders . They often compound each other’s effects and work well with control. Millicent, Restless Revenant isn’t the most synergetic spirit commander, but this Azorius card does have its value. It can insure you against removal spells and board wipes by replacing your creatures with smaller spirit tokens. These tokens can then help you recast your commander, leading to a nice stable playstyle.

#13. Krang, Master Mind

Krang, Master Mind costs the same as Qumulox, and has Cranial Plating pre-installed. The potential card draw is awfully nice for an oftentimes mean Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character.

#12. Tazri, Beacon of Unity

The great thing about the party mechanic is it often compounds and helps reduce costs. The downside is you have to set your board up properly. Tazri, Beacon of Unity can be a 5-color commander that gives you all the color options to find the best clerics, rogues, wizards, and warriors. If you can get all five mana colors, then this card’s activated ability lets you run through the top of your deck to find the creatures you need.

#11. The Pride of Hull Clade

The Pride of Hull Clade fits into the mold of Arcades, the Strategist in building a defender Commander deck. Protect yourself early with high-toughness creatures like Overgrown Battlement. When you have the mana and control, you can attack to draw many cards. Don’t sleep on defender strategies as they can be sneaky and fun.

#10. Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats

Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats is a Rakdos commander that brings the party! Well, actually if you have the party, you can play this card for a reduced cost. Decks that focus on the party mechanic aren’t so widely used, but if you can develop your party then this Rakdos card has a ton of upsides. Flying, deathtouch, haste, and some planeswalker hate can go a long way in a Commander match.

#9. Imskir Iron-Eater

Imskir Iron-Eater is a decent Rakdos commander for those who see their artifacts as cannon fodder. All the text lines can work together relatively well in developing a strategy. Your artifacts will make your commander cheaper, you can draw cards with a small downside, and you can turn your artifacts into direct damage bombs. Artifacts like Excalibur, Sword of Eden, Furnace Hellkite, and Metalwork Colossus fit well into this commander’s deck.

#8. Tomik, Wielder of Law

Tomik, Wielder of Law is our only example of an affinity for planeswalkers in MTG. So fire up your superfriends decks because this Orzhov commander will deter opponents from attacking you or your planeswalkers. This Orzhov card was made to be a commander because the affinity reduction doesn’t help the 1 colorless mana so much, but it can greatly help with commander tax.

#7. Sami, Wildcat Captain

Stock your library with colorless cantrips and getting to feels more like Omniscience in the command zone. I wanted to dislike Sami, Wildcat Captain at first, but saw how powerful it is to give the nonland cards in your deck a huge cost reduction.

#6. Pearl-Ear, Imperial Advisor

Pearl-Ear, Imperial Advisor has really neat things going for it. Advisor costs the same as many mana rocks, loves Spellbook Vendor for its role tokens as bargain bin auras, and draws cards almost as well as an enchantress. White takes this mana and card draw and uses it with supreme efficiency.

#5. Hamza, Guardian of Arashin

Selesyna is all about going wide and pumping creatures. Hamza, Guardian of Arashin exemplifies this for +1/+1 counter decks. Not only can this Selesnya commander be cast for cheaper, but it can also reduce the cost of all your creature spells. The ultimate downside here is board wipes, so make sure to include cards like The Ozolith in your builds.

#4. Chiss-Goria, Forge Tyrant

The theme of many of these affinity commanders is that they can also reduce the cost of your other strategies. Chiss-Goria, Forge Tyrant can be cast for cheaper through its affinity ability and gives other cards in your deck affinity. The ramp this card can provide to an artifact deck is all upside, and at the end of the day, that's what you should be looking for in a commander.

#3. Nahiri, Forged in Fury

Nahiri has always been a planeswalker for equipment decks. Nahiri, Forged in Fury has affinity for said equipment cards and can help you top deck into even more equipment cards. Cheating equipment cards like Hammer of Nazahn or Kaldra Compleat for free is the ultimate upside of this Boros commander.

#2. Emry, Lurker of the Loch

Emry, Lurker of the Loch has been, and most likely will continue to be a wonderful card for artifact decks. As your blue commander you will have access to artifact cards in your graveyard for the majority of the game. The reduction in casting cost will offset some removal as you can continually cast, mill, and recur artifacts.

#1. Urza, Chief Artificer

Sometimes the name of a card is quite accurate. Urza, Chief Artificer lives up to its name as a wonderful artifact commander. Each text line of the card adds value to an artifact build. The ultimate upsides of this Esper commander are making huge artifact token creatures and casting Urza, Chief Artificer for super cheap.

Does Affinity Reduce Commander Tax?

Yes, it does. Affinity reduces the cost of a card regardless of whether it’s the regular mana value or an additional cost like commander tax. Affinity cannot reduce colored mana costs, but it can reduce any extra generic mana costs.

Example Decklist: Imskir Iron-Eater in Commander

Imskir Iron-Eater | Illustration by Xavier Ribeiro

With our commander being Imskir Iron-Eater, the main focus of this deck will be getting massive and expensive artifact creatures onto the battlefield. This should constantly apply pressure to opponents with massive swings. In the later game, we can start to sacrifice these huge artifacts to deal some serious direct damage. This strategy can be exemplified by cards like Metalwork Colossus and Excalibur, Sword of Eden. This deck will take some ramping up and control with cards like Bottle-Cap Blast to ensure that it doesn’t get overrun by aggressive and midrange decks.

Ramp with cards like Iron Myr, reduce casting costs with cards like Foundry Inspector and Jhoira's Familiar, and finally cast big artifacts like Threefold Thunderhulk.

And finally, no sacrifice deck would be complete without some artifact recursion effects. Daretti, Scrap Savant, Goblin Welder, and Ruthless Technomancer can greatly help you with that!  

Commanding Conclusion

Tazri, Beacon of Unity | Illustration by Chris Rahn

That will do it for these quick, and hopefully informative rankings of the best affinity commanders!

Affinity is a great keyword that can snowball quickly in the right build. If you haven’t already, check out these commanders and see what you can do with all the reduced costs.

As always, if you want even more content check out all the other wonderful articles on the Draftsim blog, follow us on X, and join the official Draftsim Discord. Thank you for your time and may the MTG luck gods always have an affinity for you!