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There are thousands of cards in Commander, making it hard to dig through them all to find the best. As with every kind of card, some enchantments stand out above the rest. These are the best enchantments available in Commander that, if your bracket or budget allows, should be in all your EDH decks. There are a few powerful enchantments banned, but this article will only look at cards legal in the Commander format.
Best Enchantments For Card Advantage
Card advantage refers to cards that draw you cards. In Commander, being able to have answers to all your opponents is very important. This lets you respond to anything the other players throw your way and get to your key cards quicker.
Top Tier
Without a doubt, the two best enchantments for card advantage are Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora. Rhystic Study in particular has a strong argument for best enchantment in Commander overall. It taxes your opponents a mana for every spell they cast unless they can pay a mana. “Can you pay the 1?” will be repeated constantly, and delight you if you’re drawing, or elicit groans if you’re not. Slightly weaker than Rhystic Study is Mystic Remora. The tax is usually much too high for your opponents to pay, so you’ll usually always draw when there’s a noncreature spell. The one downside is Mystic Remora has cumulative upkeep, so you have to keep paying mana to keep it around. Noncreature cards are very common in Commander, leading to a lot of free card draw.
High Tier
These are a step below top tier, but not by much. There are two cards here, Sylvan Library and Phyrexian Arena. The reason they aren’t among the top tier is that they have a downside attached to them. While life is a resource, burning through potentially 8 life for two extra card draws with Sylvan Library is a lot. Phyrexian Arena is only one life lost every upkeep to get one card draw. Both these cards are very strong, but in some cases, they aren’t as consistent at drawing as the top tier, and are limited to only drawing at the start of your turn. Sylvan Library is the better of the two (especially since it is optional). No matter what, you can see three cards, and choose which one you ultimately want to draw. At worst, it’s controlled drawing, and at its best, it’s drawing three cards each turn.
Low-High Tier
This last tier also consists of two cards, Whirlwind of Thought and Guardian Project. Both of these cards are good at drawing cards, but both of these rely on casting spells unlike the higher-tiered cards. Once Whirlwind of Thought is out, you get card draw for every noncreature spell being cast. It’s great in Spellslinger decks, not so much in others. On the contrary, Guardian Project is great in creature decks. Since you can only run one copy of every creature (generally), every creature entering the battlefield draws you a card. However, it’s usually not worth running unless you’re playing primarily creatures.
Best Enchantments For Creature Support
These enchantments are ones that are beneficial for creatures. They tend to power up stats or offer other benefits, such as giving abilities. You don’t want these in decks that aren’t creature-focused, but are powerhouses in those decks.
Top Tier
The two best creature support enchantments are Cathars' Crusade and Shared Animosity. Cathars' Crusade can be a massive headache to track, but it’s worth it with how powerful it can make creatures. Any creature entering means the rest of your battlefield is getting stronger. It can lead to even the weakest of creatures becoming combat threats. Shared Animosity needs a few more hoops to jump through. It’s best played in decks focused on one creature type, as it provides a massive power boost to all creatures that attack that share a type. Otherwise, it’s not worth bringing along. However, in decks that just play one creature, it’s one of the best enchantments you can bring.
High Tier
For high-tier enchantments, there are two. Rhythm of the Wild is your answer to counterspells, as it prevents any of your creature spells from being countered. This would be great if that was the only effect, but it also gives your nontoken creatures riot, which lets them enter with haste if you want to tap them right away. Alternatively, you can give it a +1/+1 counter to give its stats a little boost. Beastmaster Ascension is a must-run in any aggro deck. For just three mana and seven creatures attacking, you give your creatures a massive +5/+5 stat boost. It’s very easy to get seven counters on Beastmaster Ascension, making it the best enchantment at boosting up creatures. The one downside is it’s prone to removal, so you can get caught off-guard in combat when a 6/6 turns back into a 1/1 if Beastmaster Ascension is removed.
Low-High Tier
This segment of creature support consists of 4 different enchantments. Temur Ascendancy and Garruk's Uprising are nearly identical. Both cards draw a card when a creature with 4 or more power enters (and in Garruk's Uprising‘s case, when the enchantment enters as well). The difference is Garruk's Uprising is easier to cast and gives your creatures trample, while Temur Ascendancy gives your creatures haste.
Tribute to the World Tree either gives a weak creature two +1/+1 counters, or draws you a card when they enter. Kindred Discovery supports one creature type you name, and draws you cards when that creature attacks or enters the battlefield. Both rely on creatures entering to draw, but both reward you handsomely when they do. They don’t do anything on their own, which is why they are weaker than similar cards, but still quite powerful.
Best Enchantments For Ramp
Ramp refers to cards that help you get more mana generation quicker. These include cards that create Treasure tokens for you, let you play extra lands, or let you generate extra mana.
Top Tier
At the top of the top, the two best enchantments for ramping are Smothering Tithe and Exploration. There is a gap between the two, with Smothering Tithe being one of the best permanents in all of EDH. It counts the card being drawn for turn, so unless your opponents want to pay two mana every turn, you’re making a Treasure token. If there’s extra card draw going on, that’s just more Treasure for you. Exploration is great too, as just one extra land drop every turn puts you at a steep advantage over your opponents. You can play big spells quicker, and depending on your lands and colors, get access to all your colors quickly so you can cast any spell you have.
High Tier
There are two very similar cards in the high tier section, Wild Growth and Utopia Sprawl. Both cost one mana, with Wild Growth making an extra mana.
Low-High Tier
Three enchantments make up this section of the tier list, Curse of Opulence, Prosperous Partnership, and Black Market. While they all have powerful effects, each have a con attached that keep it out of the higher tiers, but are still worth playing. Curse of Opulence requires a player to be attacked to create a Gold token (which is essentially a Treasure token that doesn’t have to tap itself). If the enchanted player has defenses, it might be hard to get value out of Curse of Opulence, but it’s great in the early game. On the contrary, Black Market is a card that’s stronger the longer it’s on the battlefield. It can create a ton of mana, but needs to see creatures die to get counters on it that turn into mana later.
Prosperous Partnership is a card that can create a ton of Treasure tokens, so long as you have creatures to tap. It’s a great effect to use at the end step when you don’t need creatures untapped to block. It even comes with two creatures when it enters the battlefield, so you just need one extra to instantly get the effect off.
Best Enchantments For Utility
These enchantments are ones that don’t quite fit into any other category. They usually have various effects that benefit you, and are useful to include in the decks that can play them. Not every deck is good for these enchantments, but they’re fantastic if they are.
Top Tier
The cards at the top are all very similar, those being Anointed Procession, Parallel Lives, and Doubling Season. Anointed Procession and Parallel Lives are identical in effects, the only difference being their color. Token decks love having more tokens being made, and help to overrun the battlefield quicker. Doubling Season has the same effect, but with a bonus effect of doubling your counters being put on permanents as well. All of these effects stack, so if you have two of them, that’s your tokens being quadrupled. Sneak Attack cheats out any creature with haste for just one mana, but that gets sacrificed at the end step. This can lead to explosive turns, as enter the battlefield triggers still go off.
High Tier
Three cards make up the high tier utility cards, Black Market Connections, Aura Shards, and Land Tax. All of them are quite different, but all of them are great. Black Market Connections gives you any number of a Treasure token, card draw, or a 3/2 token. The effect is mandatory, and while you can pick as many as you want, there are cases where the burn can be detrimental. Aura Shards turns all your creatures into artifact and enchantment removal, two commonly played card types in Commander. Land Tax lets you put basic lands into your hand easily. It’s a very useful way to guarantee you don’t miss a land drop. The one downside is it’s not great if you’re going first unless you’re against a deck that ramps well.
Low-High Tier
This section of enchantments are ones that are great, but more on the situational side. Sterling Grove offers all your enchantments protection by giving them shroud. It can even tutor for other enchantments if you sacrifice it in a pinch. Defense of the Heart is a one-time use card, but lets you bring out any two creatures from your library if an opponent controls just three creatures. It can be removed before your turn starts, but being able to tutor and cheat around mana costs is what makes it so good. Leyline of the Guildpact is very good for 5-color decks, as it turns all your lands into lands that can tap for any color. Not every deck cares about your permanents being all colors, but depending on your deck, this can be very beneficial. You might even be able to play Leyline of the Guildpact for free if you’re lucky enough to open with it in your starting hand.
Best Enchantments For Stax
Stax is an archetype in Commander that refers to cards that stall your opponents. This usually takes the form of cards that prevent them from playing their spells, shutting off their lands, or making it much harder to be aggressive in the game.
Top Tier
One of the best Stax pieces, Blood Moon turns all nonbasic lands into Mountains. This means that they’ll only be able to tap for mana. It does include your nonbasic lands too, so if you play it, you’ll want to make sure you have ways to generate other colors (unless you only need mana). Nonbasic lands are among the most common in Commander, with even mono-colored decks playing them. Propaganda and Ghostly Prison are identical, making your opponents pay two mana just to attack you. If both are on the battlefield, the effects stack, so it requires four mana just to attack with one creature. They’re some of the best stall cards available in Commander.
High Tier
There are two very similar cards here, Authority of the Consuls and Blind Obedience. Both make opposing creatures enter tapped, with Authority of the Consuls giving you a life when an opposing creature enters. Blind Obedience on the other hand also makes artifacts enter tapped, and lets you pay when you cast spells to burn all your opponents and gain life equal to the damage dealt. Sphere of Safety can tax your opponents with card draw if you have a ton of enchantments. It is a bit costly, but in enchantment decks, it can make it so your opponents can’t attack you at all without spending a ton of mana.
Best Enchantments For Removal
Although not common, some enchantments are great at removing creatures. They’re usually not as strong as traditional removal, but can potentially lock your opponents out of playing their commander.
Top Tier
Two cards have a similar purpose, Imprisoned in the Moon and Oubliette. Imprisoned in the Moon turns a creature or planeswalker into a land, and Oubliette phases a creature out until it’s removed. Lands are much harder to destroy than creatures, which is why Imprisoned in the Moon is so good. A phased out creature can’t do anything, and if used on a commander, it can’t go back to the command zone, so unless they can remove Oubliette, it’s gone forever. The Meathook Massacre is a big board wipe if you invest mana into it. Once on the battlefield, it provides constant lifegain and burn when creatures die, depending on who controlled them when they died.
High Tier
Both Darksteel Mutation and Witness Protection share a similar purpose. It turns a creature into a weak vanilla one that losses all its abilities. Darksteel Mutation is better, as it gives the creature indestructible so it can’t chump block to reset it. In Too Deep gets rid of a creature or planeswalker by turning it into a Clue. While it can be sacrificed, this sets them back in mana, and it has split second so your opponents can’t respond to it.
Best Enchantments For Burn
Burn decks want to include as many ways to deal burn damage as possible. 40 life is a lot to great through, so permanents that deal burn damage are great to include.
Top Tier
Leading the pack on burn enchantments are Bastion of Remembrance and Impact Tremors. Bastion of Remembrance turns all your creatures dying into burn for your opponents and lifegain for you, giving it a home in Aristocrat decks. Impact Tremors deals burn damage whenever a creature enters. It’s great in both burn decks and in token decks, especially the latter as those tend to overrun the battlefield with creatures.
High Tier
The cards in this tier are all great, but usually need to be built around them to make the most of their abilities. Warleader's Call is similar to Impact Tremors, but costs an extra mana and is two colors, making it more narrow in decks that can include it. The trade-off is it also gives your creatures a minor stat boost. Goblin Bombardment can point damage to any target by sacrificing a creature, so you need a lot of expendable creatures for it to be most effective. It can be used for direct burn, or even as removal. Warstorm Surge is very powerful, albeit very costly. However, if you’re playing a deck that cheats around mana costs, it’s an incredibly effective way to point a ton of burn damage toward any target.
Best Enchantments For Combos
Combos are a big part of Commander (especially in the higher bracket levels). There are multiple enchantments that enable combos, and while they’re not going to be good in every deck, they are usually attached to win conditions.
Top Tier
Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood usually go together. When one triggers, it triggers the other one, making an infinite loop that burns everyone out of the game (and gives you infinite life if the game doesn’t end from that). Underworld Breach is forced to be sacrificed at the end step, but gives all your cards in the graveyard escape. This enables various loops, so long as you can fill your graveyard with permanents. Food Chain is a part of mana infinite mana combos, so long as you have a creature that can be cast from exile.
High Tier
Curiosity combos with various cards that can deal damage when a card is being drawn. It is known to create various loops, as the damage does not need to be combo damage. Greater Good can loop with various creatures to draw a bunch of cards, and in some cases, draw out your entire deck. Training Grounds can’t make an ability free, but it can bring it close to it to enable various combos with the right combination of cards.
In Conclusion
There are many, many powerful enchantments in Commander. The ones in this article are the best of the best, but there are plenty more “middling” enchantments that are useful in specific decks, less so in the broad scheme of things. For example, Auras tend to only be good in Aura decks (most of the time), and aren’t usually considered when talking about the best enchantments.
Regardless, the best enchantments are the best for a reason. They’re great in almost every deck, and nearly every deck benefits from including them. You’ll want to remember these enchantments, as they’ll be useful in your future deckbuilding.
