The Most Hated Commanders of All Time: 2023 Update | Saltiest Commanders | EDH | Magic the Gathering 

The fact that 8 of these are Phyrexians and 7 are Praetors really says something about the Phyrexians.

IMO the thing that has vorinclex salty for me is the ability to have planeswalkers enter with double loyalty and immediately use their ultimate ability. Especially if you find out by watching it happen.

I remember one of the first commander decks I ever built was a tergrid deck. Idk why I was drawn to one of the most evil decks right away but I think part of it was that I had a bunch of bad discard and sacrifice cards already that I could just easily slot in and it would still be powerful. However now even though I’ve upgraded her to have fast mana and some other stax sprinkled in I still rarely play her, she usually just gets immediately removed or stolen with a gilded drake or cloned or something so it’s hard for her to do her thing, but boy oh boy do I love resolving a death cloud for X=7 with her on the board. No hands, no lands, no creatures (except for me, I have all of them).

Grand Arbiter is nice and all, but Hinata is on a whole different level (can’t believe she didn’t make it on the list). Playing X Spells and target everything on the board but paying just one mana for it in many cases is one of the most disgusting things I‘ve ever did :D

I pulled my own Elesh Norn, mother of machines in a card ship at a Pre-release event, my pre-release box came with the phyrexian white dice, so I took it as a sign and made her a Commander, she is my strongest deck, So much so I retire her and only play her when requested.

I had a discard deck for years that was at some point headed by Tergrid. I took it apart when I realized how truly hated that card is. 😂 That being said....I DO have a Toxrill proliferate deck.

I built a Toxrill deck because I pulled three in two weeks of drafting VOW. It was a sign from the gaming gods that it had to be done. And now, two years later I know when I pull that deck out, before the first card is played that I am the arch-enemy. EVERYONE will be coming after me. And when the deck works well, It's still fun. But goes back away after only a game or two.

I've played against Tergrid and its completely miserable. It cannot be on the battlefield for even a moment or you will likely lose the game. Everyone else has to hold onto every bit of instant speed countermagic or instant removal. Even the removal might not be fast enough if Swiftfoot Boots are already out. When Tergrid comes out, the person usually is already holding some kind of instant discard or sacrifice play in hand. They trade one card, and get 3 back. It only takes this happening a scant few times and they are so far ahead, you basically need a board wipe to get back in the game. Toxrill is almost as bad- if the turn goes around one time, that is practically a one-sided board wipe. Anything left will be so weak they will be almost useless for combat. The only upside is Toxrill is slow to get out and you have time to find something to keep it off the board. A few hits of commander tax can make it really hard to get out.

Dam. I'v eaither got a few of these or had them. Got a Yuriko Ninja deck, a Vorinclex (monsterous raider) focused on +1/+1 counters, Atraxa Supper Friends *yet to be played as still working out mana curve) and Dismantled my Toxtril deck (Never won a single game as i got targeted everytime before he even hit the board.

Pretty accurate list Personnaly think that the 10 mana Gin is pretty ok, you see it coming and there's not a lot of option to cheat him in mono-blue (and no ward effect, so killable easily) My problem would be Sheoldredd the apocalypse : a friend built it, and played jeweled lotus into Sheoldredd turn 1 The first thing you do IN THE GAME is to lose 2 lifes because of her xD You can't even interact with what she is doing, draw is obligatory. Elesh Norn Grand Cenobite--> decks that don't run a lot of creatures are fine. Gin from Neon Dynasty : decks that don't run a lot of instant/sorcery are fine But Sheoldredd hurts you in the most sadistic way :)

i dont have a "winter orb" in my Urza deck but I DO have a "storm cauldron" which when a land is tapped it is returned to your hand but players can interact with it so its not too salty but yeah you will want a glass of water when playing against this deck

I've got a point of criticism: it's getting harder and harder to ignore his "because, well" addiction. He says it a lot. Also seems to sprinkle "well" into sentences for extra flavor.

Vorinclex, a jerk card for jerks.

Sen Triplets is one the first commanders I bought but still have not built because I know it will be unliked. I guess I can build it and play in some pods as long as I make it lower powered and let players know ahead what is in the deck.

Surprised Feather isnt on the list, card gets outta control fast and pretty much makes it so that you always have cantrips ready for hex proof or to buff a already pretty strong commander.

So funny story....awhile back I was in a three player commander game, and one of my opponents was playing Toxrill as his commander, while I was playing zombies (I don't remember what the other guy was playing). I had my commander Wilhelt the rotcleaver which died, but without going into too much detail, I had other zombies out, and basically was drawing cards for every zombie in play that Toxrill killed, and though I was losing life, I just kept drawing cards whenever one of my zombies died. (this was a long time ago, so I can't remember all the details).

On the topic of opponents not liking it when you take their turns, I have a Zevlor deck that I enjoy playing, but there have been several cards that I've taken out of it over time, one being Worst Fears. I thought that it would be fine because its an expensive move to play it, then copy it with Zevlor. I figured that it would get countered if i even tried it. But no, turns out that it was not that hard to get through, and resolving a copied Worst Fears even once made me feel like a jackass. Like I just took everybody's toys away and used them while they had to sit there and watch. I still have some evil things in the deck, but no "steal your turn" stuff.

Honestly I was expecting my boy Jodah, Unifier was gonna be in here. He is really good at shaking peoples hands and I get why one might resent that.

My Toxril deck is banned in my play group. It's Toxrill, and a bunch of counterspells.

Yup, a lot of these can be very frustrating to play against! Seems accurate :D

Just got into mtg this year. My intro was an all will be one bundle and I pulled the mother of machines herself. Sorry friends destiny called so i had to make a deck for her.

People I've played against really hate both my decks I run anje falkenrath madness deck and my first deck was Stefan maure progenitor precon I'm still new to the game but these 2 decks have been awesome for me

I put the OG praetors in every deck they can be played in except Urabrask. I have so many memories of those cards over the years and they still haven't gotten stale for me. I always love big impactful and splashy plays and you'd have to physically hold me down to take them out of my decks

people really overblow Tergrid tbh. its so play aroundable, as opposed to like half the other cards on this list.

My favorite game ever was against Sheoldred deck. With Rowan, Scion of War as a commander. It’s the best counter deck, as Sheoldred literally makes your stuff free. Bonus points if it enables your own Sheoldred which just counters the pain. Beautiful game. Also my fav anti stax deck strategy is mono green mana ramp with Nissa commander. They make you pay more? No problem, I have 10 mana on turn 3 anyway. :D

When I use my Krenko Mob Boss deck Mitch everyone is afraid. Why wasn't he on this list

I haaaaated playing against a friend of mine’s lord Xander deck, sac, mill, and discard on one very annoying guy, and he just makes games really slow because you have to stop and count out half your library everytime he makes you mill im kinda surprised he didn’t make the list

I play koma in my tatyova land fall deck and everyone was like why it doesn’t fit the theme … Late game hitting this and it doesn’t get path to exile or swords to plowshares… it wins on it own because after one or two go around a a creatorhoof follows

I can see how Koma would be a pain. Might be a fun build, I am seemingly the only casual type player in my group. I am going to have to build more cedh decks.

It's crazy how many of these can be stalled or stopped completely by Solemnity

I have a Sheoldred deck. Definitely my favorite deck, but I understand why people don't like playing against it. I reserve it for play against other higher level commander decks. Not running stuff like Jeweled Lotus or other cEDH cards either. Sheoldred is just so efficient and consistent.

Ahhh.... Vorenclex my mono green stompy Commander, it used to run most of the Eldrazi Titans when I built it 6 years ago. Before mono Green got a lot of support.

Surprised not to see krark-sakashima. Not only do the coin flips take quite of bit of time to resolve, but it’s definitely made my playgroup very unhappy… for good reason 😂

I came into Commander after taking more than a decade away from the game. The first Commander I built was Sen Triplets, not knowing how much others disliked this Commander. Also, I'm surprised to not see Hokori, Dust Drinker on this list.

happy land stax vorinclex made it. i play a lot of green and always put him in the 99 most of the time lol. he really shines in my kodama partner with khmal. just hard classic stompy.

I use elesh norn all the time in commander but when you play against other players who also use the most brutal commanders its always fun. Big explosive games.

Hopefully I'll see Krenko Mob Boss on this list.

I've noticed that Zur the Enchanter seem to be a very salt-inducing commander as well. I got one, and I understand why. Basically every game is making a pillow fort or stax, and then finish off with All that Glitters and Ethereal Armor. I was thinking however maybe converting the deck to one that focuses on getting as many esper colored gods out and use some synnergy from that. Might be a more fun experience.

Heyo, really cool video , but i have one slight point of not exactly critisism but a improvement idea. When you display a card and its prices , could you maybe also do it in euros . Like a small extra number ?

I know Korvold is hated, I keep him around for special occasions. Wizards I guess really wanted to sell those Brawl decks because those commanders were so powerful. Korvold definitely deserves that salt score, but I still like him.

Shouldve named the video if the top saltiest phyrexian commanders lol. Also surprised that satoru umezawa isnt on here. Nothing says fun than dropping a unblocked blightsteel or emrakul

Aw man the praetors man. I hsve a buddy who runs a Kamigawa Jin-G and its a nightmare. Chills out and ramps until he can then lock out the table. Ironically we just kinda relax and we usually sit with an armistice at our table. I play ojer kaslem so im playing lots of land and can usually get the ramp, if i need any, out before hand. So i just chill out and do my thing don't worry too kcuh abiut that and farm my big green creatures.

I only 1 commander on this list, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Its a pure token deck, and she only ever gets cast when I'm about to end the game on that turn. My player group says its nasty as hell, but fair.

I refuse to play against Etali, Primal Conqueror. Low power versions of the deck are okay but when you ramp into Etali the first couple turns and start blinking every turn to steal the top 10 cards of every players deck it gets ridiculous and is horrible to play against.

I run a tergrid deck in arena historic with lilianas and the primary win condition is the other person rage quitting or voluntarily killing themselves on stuff like painful quandary, its too rude for tabletop even if I wouldn't consider an overly effective deck

i was somewhat sad that i don’t have any of the listed commanders until i heard Tergrid is on the second place! I love that card even though i never had the chance to play her as a commander yet

I get focused enough as is playing Tiny Bones discard with Tergrid in the main deck. Tergrid never resolves or immediately dies, so at least with Tiny Bones I get a commander that I actually get to play.

Had a game once where my opponent copied their rhystic study. Tergrid wasnt my commander, but was in my hand. So i play three spells, not paying any taxes and then dropped Tergrid.

I might need vorinclex for my poison deck (paladin of predation will actually one tap afterwards)

Ulamog is one of my 99 because mono green ramp with classic vorinclex voice of hunger is faster than colorless ramp. Plus I get to lose all my friends

Honestly all the salt for Koma comes from its caster when they are somehow surprised when I insta kill it

I am so happy that I managed to remove Koma, Cosmos Serpent six times in one game using my Muldrotha deck. At least three times with Hostage taker, each time the opponent opted to return it to his command zone.

So happy K'rrik wasn't on this list :) Time to get that deck out and cream some pansies

vorinclex with nessa results in the greatest land/assault an opponent can expect, I only use it on my worst enemies

Me: checking in to see if any commanders I use are here.

So how is Koma lower than sheoldred the apocalypse. It is so easy to take care of sheoldred the apocalypse. Koma is in green and blue which means mana ramp. And not only that Koma says permanents that means they can tap and sac to tap your lands to counter any threat. The minute she enters you have to take care on there turn or else you may not be able to. The people who made this salt score were not thinking

Thanks for the buylist!!!!! :)

Question: if two different players each have a Tergrid out, who gets the sacrificed permanents from the third or fourth player?

Some of the people I play with in a supposedly "casual" group play high-salt commanders with expensive cards and keep wondering why they get targeted first. One of them has a Yuriko deck, Atraxa (pv) planeswalker deck, and a Niv-Mizzet deck. The general consensus is "kill him first". Then one of the guys with Magda, or Light-Paws wins... I am just sitting here flailing about with pre-cons and their stupid slow lands trying to stay alive. I question how "casual" they claim to be with all the Chinese/Japanese cards in their decks because they could not afford the English ones. And here I think a 10$ card is an absolute splurge.

Hmm I would probably add some others commanders. Like Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, Gattock Teeg, and Tiny Bones. Those are some brutal ones.

Grand Arbiter has a nickname around my area. we call him "The Tax Man" and he makes people salty around here 😝i took my deck apart because of the complaints. but now im gonna Rock "The Wise Mothman" custom deck

do you think eminence would be less unfortunate if they had more commanders with eminence? that where only allowed in commander? there are only 5 and i think thats the real problem.

Would Tergid be good in a Korvold deck? 😅 asking for a friend.

I have to say I have a Gisela, blade of goldnight that gets a lot of hate. And a scion of ur dragon deck that others refuse to play I don't see how they did not make the list

Great video, but slow down, bud. I was listening to this while working out and I couldn't hear what you were saying!

Been playing in the wrong pods, since I've had worse games against control combo decks like Ertai Resurrected (Hero's Downfall + Disallow rolled into a single card) blink or Sarulf (You want to have board? Haha, nope!)

I like to use Torgrid with Breathstealers crypt and puzzle box

I have a Jodah the Unifer legendary phyrexian cards and its not the strongest of my pay table its the biggest issues for most players

Surprised that Krenko is not on that list.

Atraxa isnt that bad i had faced many decks with her and most of them wiffed, my commander gave more salt with most people that i played then atraxa i play meren of clan nel toth people literally hated my guts for playing it at my last lgs they even thought about making a deck specifically to counter mine and keeping it behind the store counter and whip it out when ever i was playing her of course i take that as a compliment but they ended up not making the graveyard counter deck

Korvold would be a fun and somewhat fair aristocrats/voltron commander if he didn't have the text "draw a card" on him. As printed he is just an absurd value engine.

I'm missing Xander the collector that guy cannot even touch the field in my playgroup😂

I love this video and OH YEAH I built several of these commanders…..after all I’m a stacks player and edict player😈🖤👍🏼👍🏼💯

As someone that doesn’t play commander, I had to turn this video playback speed slower. Great info, just hard to keep up with.

Generally hate any hate cards. Anything that prevents players full stop from activating abilities, triggering abilities, casting spells of various flavors, etc. I also count Vorinclex in this category.

Sheoldred with forced frutrition is a nasty combo that should not be overlooked which basically amounts to you wanna play a card well draw 7 cards and take 14 damage.

I agree with everything said, but at the same time, why is it so bad? A good balanced pod of players will balance it out right? Surely SOMEONE at the table will have an answer to the problem...

Whoops, I have both a Jin and Tergrid deck. Not to mention my edgar deck. Personally I think urza should be higher.

How is the salt score determined?

My friends recently called me a monster for my Mono Black I built with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse as Commander with Toxrill and Tergrid in the 99 as back up problems. My Hinata, Dawn Crowned has Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant so I can double the X cost spells

I honestly can't believe that some cards were ever allowed to be created. They are just unfair and goes completely against the spirit of the game. Sen Triplets is essentially an immediate game over in a 1v1. Milling cards is ok. Forcing them to mill 20 cards, half their deck, or any absurd amount of cards every turn is bullshit.

I would have expected to see Sisay, Weatherlight Captain with his Shrine deck in there

"i did top 20 this time because some seemed maybe to be more cards in the 99, rather than commanders (and two cycles of praetors)"

I've got a point of criticism: it's hard to ignore him saying "let's take a quick break" then getting slapped with the fifth ad role.

Me over here finishing my beamtown bullies deck 😮‍💨

Yeah Toxrill was the first deck I ever built in paper, that slug is absolutely hateful. He gets wotse the more olayer there are, 7 player commander makes it awful.

Salt in Magic is much like salt in real life: moderation is the key.

I love tergrid, but i dont play her. She would have been completely fine if they just put "once per turn" on her. Same goes for chulane (who im surprised didnt even make the list)

I was able to shut down an Edgar Markov deck with Toxrill. I unintentionally utilized the slug's MLD combo for that.

I'm moderately surprised Orvar didn't make it on here, nobody I play with likes mine, and it's not even optimized

You want to talk about salt, have the old Elesh Norn , Urborg Tomb of Yagamoth, and Komus Bell in play. All lands become Swamps, all Swamps become 1/1 creatures, all enemy creatures get -2/-2. Your opponents don't have lands.

So what this list is telling me is that we should juat ban the praetors right?

Only have 1 of these out of the 20. Not bad. The one is Edgar Markov.

I love that Toxrill, the Corrosive is in the list. I got it with a helm of the host just to be mean.

Dang I have 3 of these in my winnin, Kinnan deck😬😬

A lot of the cards in this list are in decks I've been running this year...

Surprised that Kaalia isn't on the list here, that card is scarily disgusting to play against

Was hoping to see Thalia and the Gitrog Monster make the list

I've never had a major problem with most of those commanders except 3. I never lost to a tergrid before, but tezzeret mast of the bridge is waaay more brutal than her

I have a friend with a phyrexian deck with every single praetor in it lol.