MtG: 15 Best Dominaria United Cards for Commander

The original Dominaria set from 2018 has been quite impactful on the commander format in Magic: The Gathering. Think of cards like Muldrotha the Gravetide, Teferi Hero of Dominaria, and Mox Amber.

The return to Dominaria plain in the new Dominaria United set this year may not be as full of eventful cards, but it is still very fun. You'll be impressed with the amount of niche cards that are available here, which may be exactly what you were looking for your specific build in EDH.

Our list of the top 15 MtG cards from Dominaria United set includes plenty of new commanders, spells, as well as artifacts and even a land.

Meria, Scholar of Antiquity

Meria could easily be the new Stax commander that can tap artifacts, generate mana, and mill yourself.

Now, in addition to your typical mana rocks, Meria could also utilize your other artifacts, such as Trinisphere, Winter Orb, Chalice of the Void, and so many others.

Urza players would be delighted to play this card in the Gruul color combination, alongside such cards like Green Sun's Zenith and Unwinding Clock, which untaps all those artifacts back and allows Meria to generate mana further on.

Shanna, Purifying Blade

Shanna is similar in application to Meria, but this time you don't generate mana but health, which is converted into card draw.

Just like Meria, Shanna could be easily a commander effectively utilizing such cards like Auriok Champion, Heliod Sun-Crowned, Resplendent Angel, Archangel of Thune, and others.

Since life gain becomes the centerpiece of this archetype, you can easily finish things off with Aetherflux Reservoir and hit your opponent with 50 damage when the required amount of life has been accumulated.

Temporary Lockdown

If you're having to go against Stax lists and quickly deal with all their cheap hate artifacts, then Temporary Lockdown would be the best possible solution.

This enchantment can be used with any white commander, but is now mostly considered for the Esper lists, such as Oloro, Ageless Ascetic and Chromium, the Mutable.

Temporary Lockdown can be compared to Culling Ritual, which has been a mainstay in various Golgari lists, and now white color gets a similar treatment, albeit no mana is generated in the process.

Ratadrabik of Urborg

Although Orzhov color combo is considered the weakest in the EDH format, this zombie commander has some interesting interactions with other cards that are worth exploring.

Use Ratadrabik with Commander Greven il-Vec and Blood Artist to instantly win the game, or use him with Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter for infinite ETB triggers.

On the other hand, play him with Gonti, Lord of Luxury alongside a free sacrificial lamb and initiate the mill effect to destroy your opponent's library.

Stronghold Arena

This new enchantment is not only cheap at only 2 mana, but has a rather powerful card draw effect.

Kamahl, Heart of Krosa and Tymna the Weaver commander players may find this draw engine to be the most suitable due to Abzan color combination in the cost and the kicker effect.

If not for the complex color scheme, then Stronghold Arena would easily be the new Phyrexian Arena, which is used in a wide plethora of EDH decks these days.

Plaza of Heroes

This fantastic new land drom Dominaria United has clearly been designed with commander players in mind and their needs.

It has so many advantages, especially for multicolored decks, that they simply need to be mentioned:

• It generates colorless mana.
• It generates any type of color mana specifically for commanders and/or legendary creatures.
• It generates any type of color mana, which can be used for casting any type of card, if you have that color on a legendary creature in play.
• It protects your creatures.

Braids, Arisen Nightmare

The new Braids commander could easily form a new Mono-Black Stax deck in EDH, albeit slightly grindy.

Play it alongside such cards like Pitiless Plunderer to generate mana, Chainer, Dementia Master to buff your commander, and Rise of the Dark Realms to bring back all the sacrifice fodder and repeat the cycle again.

If you don't want to use it as commander but still wish to exploit its abilities, then put it in your 99 alongside such commanders like Dihada, Binder of Wills or Zur, Eternal Schemer.

Threats Undetected

What makes this sorcery so appealing is just how easy it is to cast and still get what you need.

Currently there are two best options for Threats Undetected: Najeela, the Blade-Blossom and Marwyn, the Nurturer.

In the first case you can grab Phantasmal Image, Dockside Extortionist, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, or Grim Hireling; and in the second case you can get Fierce Empath, Woodland Bellower, Hyrax Tower Scout, or Temur Sabertooth.

Activated Sleeper

Black players now have a new body double for copying sacrificial outlets and protecting their combo.

It is also one mana cheaper than Body Snatcher, which was used in a number of decks, but it looks like the best home for Activated Sleeper would be the Rohgahh, Kher Keep Overlord or any other black tribal lord.

But it can also shine in Hulk Piles archetype, where it can copy huge creatures for as little as 3 mana.

Defiler of Instinct

Any card that lets you cheat in some extra mana is a good card regardless of the format.

It just happens that in commander you have more health to sacrifice and generate enough mana for some wicked combo.

Defiler of Instinct will most likely be played in Squee, the Immortal with Food Chain combo decks. But it can also find home in Zada, Hedron Grinder, Xenagos, God of Revels, or Dargo/Gilanra lists.

Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator

Phyrexian Merfolks are rare creatures indeed, and this new commander could do some damage in EDH format with ease.

You can feed his abilities with the help of Spellseeker or an Imperial Seal, and keep drawing using Ledger Shredder.

Another possible combo would involve Demonic Consultation and Thassa's Oracle, where you can mill yourself in a single turn and win the game this way.

In either case, there's a lot of room for some maneuvers here.

Vesuvan Duplimancy

Here is another duplication effect from Dominaria United, but this time it's an enchantment, and surprisingly not a legendary one.

Here are some of the most suitable commander decks for this effect to gain the best results:

• Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief.
• Orvar, the All-Form.
• Tuvasa the Sunlit.
• Kairi, the Swirling Sky.
• Tetsuo, Imperial Champion.

All these lists use the duplication effects in one way or another, but Vesuvan Duplimancy will have impact in all of them either in the good old or completely new ways.

Stenn, Paranoid Partisan

Although Stenn's mana cost reduction effect doesn't work with creatures or lands, it does work with artifacts, and so it's pretty valuable in commander.

You can pair it up with either Zur, Eternal Schemer or Chromium, the Mutable. But if you want to play Stenn as commander, then use it alongside such cards like Metalworker to generate mana, Enlightened Tutor to find the needed artifact for the moment, and a whole bunch of impactful 1-mana and 2-mana artifacts.

Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief

This is another powerful engine and quite cheap that can generate a ton of value if used correctly.

There are a few possible uses for Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief, including:

• Archmage Emeritus generating card draw.
• Copy Enchantment copying auras and generating more Ivy tokens.
• Energy Tap generating colorless mana.

But the most obvious synergy is with the Argothian Enchantress, which is the most natural choice for this new commander.

Relic of Legends

Commander players may find the cost of this fine artifact rather questionable at 3 mana, but that is not such a high price for being able to generate multiple instances of mana of any color in a single turn.

Relic of Legends will be especially popular in such 5-color lists like Jodah, the Unifier and Sisay, Weatherlight Captain. But it can be just as effective in 3-color or less commander decks as well.

That's all for the best 15 cards in MtG's Dominaria United set. In addition to this list of the best Dominaria United cards for commander, be sure to check out our other MtG guides and card lists here.