The Best Black/Red Commanders In MTG

Summary

• Rakdos decks in Magic: The Gathering are aggressive and focused on damage, making them polarizing for players.
• Many viable Rakdos Commanders are available due to a large card pool, each with pros and cons for deck construction.
• Powerful new Rakdos Commanders like The Infamous Cruelclaw, Valgavoth, and Laughing Jasper Flint offer unique strategies for play.

Few of Magic: The Gathering's color identities are as aggressive and focused on dealing damage as the black and red pairing, Rakdos. Often dealing large sums of damage to every player (including themselves), Rakdos decks are some of the most offense-oriented in the game, resulting in them being rather polarizing for players.

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Due to the massive card pool Rakdos has amassed over Magic's history, you have many viable options to choose from when constructing a Commander deck. Selecting a commander is often a daunting task, as each potential leader comes alongside its own set of pros and cons. So without further ado, we're going to dive into our list of the best commanders that Rakdos has to offer!

Updated April 25, 2025, by Ryan Hay: The more Magic: The Gatherings that release, the more powerful red and black legendary creatures come out to play. If the chaotic energy of Rakdos is your speed in Commander, you can pick from these amazing commanders or from three new additions to the crew with The Infamous Cruelclaw, Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls, and Laughing Jasper Flint. These baddies are massive threats on the board so if you're looking to become the villain in your play group, we have you covered.

26 Imskir Iron-Eater

Turn Your Opponents To Slag

A fascinating legendary creature that makes the most of your artifacts, Imskir Iron-Eater is an expensive commander, coming in at eight mana, but gets cheaper the more artifacts in play. This ability gets around Commander tax, reducing its cost down to just one black and one red so long as you have enough artifacts out.

When it comes into play you get to draw cards, with the downside of losing life, equal to half the number of artifacts you control. You can then sacrifice an artifact and pay four mana to fling the artifact to an opponent, dealing damage equal to that artifacts mana value.

25 Valki, God Of Lies

It's Just A Little Fib

Valki is a unique commander, in that he functions as a creature that can provide information about opponents' plans and potentially slow them down from playing creatures in the early game, while offering extreme value as a planeswalker in the late game. Thanks to Valki's enter the battlefield trigger hitting each opponent, a turn two Valki cast lets you know what everyone's holding in their hand.

This can be extremely useful information in a game of Commander, as it lets you know what everyone's up to in the very first turns of the game. Additionally, you can use this information to try and influence opposing players into attacking one another.

In some cases, you may even be able to barter with the information. A last thing to note is that since Valki allows you to see all of your opponents' hands, he lets you know when it's "safe" to cast himself as you become aware of whether people have removal in hand.

24 The Scorpion God

Watch Out For That Stinger

One of the three forgotten Gods of Amonkhet, The Scorpion God is a commander who synergizes with -1/-1 counters. While you can't play more than a handful of games of Commander without stumbling upon numerous +1/+1 counter synergies and decks, -1/-1 counter decks are few and far between.

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When it comes to commanders who benefit from inflicting -1/-1 counters upon your foes, The Scorpion God is one of the best. A 6/5 for five mana, The Scorpion God draws a card for its controller each time a creature with a -1/-1 counter on it dies. This ability both works well in conjunction with effects that place -1/-1 counters on opponents' creatures, as well as your own creatures that enter the battlefield with these counters on them already.

While a Scorpion God deck would likely be constructed to contain numerous effects that put -1/-1 counters on creatures, in case one is ever in need, for three mana, The Scorpion God can put a -1/-1 counter on a creature at any time.

23 Chainer, Nightmare Adept

The Grave Is Temporary

A relatively straightforward graveyard-oriented Commander, Chainer, Nightmare Adept is a commander who enables and incentivizes its controller to cast creatures from their graveyard. A problem that some graveyard commanders run into is a lack of consistent access to their graveyard. Chainer fixes this problem immediately, but allowing its controller to discard a creature in order to be able to cast a creature from their graveyard that turn.

This simultaneously fills the graveyard while utilizing it for value. Additionally, non-token creatures that enter the battlefield that entered from somewhere besides the Chainer player's hand gain haste, further incentivizing the use of the graveyard.

22 Olivia Volderen

Why Don't You Join Us?

Rakdos' premier option for a Vampire commander, Olivia Volderen is perhaps one of the most flavorful Vampires to ever be printed on a Magic card. A 3/3 Vampire for four mana, Olivia's controller can pay two mana at any time to have Olivia deal two damage to any other creature, turning it into a Vampire in the process, and putting a +1/+1 counter on Olivia.

While biting opponents' creatures and turning them into vampires is well and good, for five mana, Olivia can gain control of any other vampire. When working in conjunction with other vampires that buff other Vampires, such as Captivating Vampire, Olivia decks are capable of stealing creatures and making them more powerful than they were under their owner's control.

21 Xancha, Sleeper Agent

What's Mine Is Yours

An overtly political commander, Xancha, Sleeper Agent is a fun commander who incentivizes cooperation from other players. As Commander is a multiplayer format, it's important for players to remember that other players can be utilized as an alternative resource through mind games and deals. Xancha is a 5/5 for only three mana, who upon entering the battlefield, is put under the control of an opponent. While this ability may appear inherently terrible, Xancha's other abilities more than make up for it.

Firstly, Xancha attacks each possible combat, but cannot attack her owner or planeswalkers they control. This means that Xancha will be causing problems for other players at the commander table regardless of whose she's attacking. Additionally, Xancha has an ability that any player can activate which draws that player a card and causes Xancha's controller to lose two life, making the possession of Xancha more of a curse than a blessing.

20 Obosh, The Preypiercer

You Won't Even Believe It

Obosh, the Preypiercer is a five-mana commander printed in Ikoria that offers a simple yet very effective ability that can greatly increase its controller's damage output. A 3/5 hellion horror for five mana, Obosh states that if a source under your control with an odd mana value would deal damage to a permanent or player, it deals twice as much damage instead.

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This allows efficient one-mana spells such as Lightning Bolt to deal six damage rather than six, and higher-mana creatures that cost three, five, and seven mana to deal absurd amounts of damage.

19 The Master, Multiplied

We All Are Me Now

There's a lot going on with The Master, Multiplied. First up, it has the very unique myriad mechanic, which creates copies of itself for each opponent you have when it attacks. Normally, on a legendary creature, this is very bad, but The Master planned ahead with this and comes with a fun anti-legend rule clause, letting you have as many token copies of it as you like. You then get to keep those creatures since The Master also makes it so you don't have to sacrifice or exile creatures you control because of a built-in triggered ability.

Since all your token copies will also have myriad, you'll quickly have an overwhelming army of The Masters ready to take over the world. There's plenty of other ways to use The Master, Multiplied other than copying himself. Practically any effect that creates a token copy of something can be manipulated with this effect, including cards like Flameshadow Conjuring and Delina, Wild Mage.

18 Olivia, Crimson Bride

Put A Ring On This One Quickly

The central antagonist and bride of the wedding of Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Olivia, Crimson Bride is a great option for a Rakdos reanimator deck. A 3/4 with flying and haste for six mana, when Olivia attacks, you can put a creature from your graveyard onto the battlefield, tapped and attacking.

While that card is exiled if you don't have a legendary Vampire in play, Olivia can be a great way to cheat massive high-impact threats into play if your deck has an easy way of putting them into the graveyard.

17 Kroxa, Titan Of Death's Hunger

Your Opponents Won't Be Able To Escape

Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger is one of the most unique Rakdos commanders to ever be printed. Only two mana to cast, Kroxa essentially functions as a sorcery capable of being cast from the command zone. This is due to its ability that causes it to be immediately sacrificed as long as it wasn't cast from the command zone.

Upon being cast, Kroxa causes each opponent to discard a card, dealing three damage to those who chose to discard a land.

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Additionally, Kroxa can be cast from the graveyard for four mana, as long as five other cards are exiled from the graveyard as he is cast. This means that, after initially being cast, Kroxa's controller will never be required to pay Commander Tax, as Kroxa can merely be cast from the graveyard.