With around 1,500 potential commanders, there is no shortage of cards you can use to lead your EDH decks. Some, however, have risen to the top as the format has developed, and secured their positions as format favorites. Each color pair has its own distinct identity, and there are commanders that embody that identity, or parts of it, in ways that have made them immensely popular generals. Today, we’re looking at the top green-white commanders – for more detailed information about any of these decks, check out EDHRec’s page on top green-white commanders!

10. Captain Sisay

You might be surprised at the breadth of legendary cards in the green-white colors. Having a free tutor every turn is massive, and when Sisay can get everything from sweepers (Elesh Norn or Urza’s Ruinous Blast) to card advantage engines (Reki, the History of Kamigawa or Mangara, the Diplomat) or even a pseudo-Genesis Wave (Kamahl’s Druidic Vow), it’s not hard to figure out how much power and flexibility is wrapped up in this commander. Low on life? Get Shadowspear. Need extra mana? Get Nissa, Who Shakes the World. Need to distract your opponents with a card that has way, way too much text? Get Odric, Lunarch Marshal. Sisay decks are so sweet, and watch out if they ever manage to get a Thousand-Year Elixir out!

9. Emiel the Blessed

Blink decks tend to firmly plant themselves in the Bant colors, but it’s still more than possible to put one together without playing blue. You’ve still got all the ramp with cards like Wood Elves, you’ve still got utility from cards like Knight of Autumn, and – funnily enough – you still have card draw with Wall of Omens and Elvish Visionary. Much of the best blink top-end is in green-white: Sun Titan, Avenger of Zendikar, Titan of Industry and Emiel is ready to retrigger them time and time again for just three mana. But no Emiel deck is complete, of course, without the mighty Thragtusk: three mana, make a 3/3, gain five? Oh baby. 

8. Hamza, Guardian of Arashin

+1/+1 counters are a long-held green-white mechanic, and there are a few different options to choose from when it comes to a commander for a +1/+1 deck. One of the most popular is Hamza, Guardian of Arashin because of his incredible cost-reduction synergy with these counters. Much of the time, Hamza will come down at a steep discount, but that’s just the start: usually, with Hamza out, all following creatures will just cost their colored mana requirements, as Hamza obliterates the generic mana requirement. There are too many +1/+1 counter cards to name for your Hamza decks – Juniper Order Ranger, Evolution Sage, Felidar Retreat, Inspiring Call – but all of them will do incredible work in Hamza decks. 

7. Trelasarra, Moon Dancer

If you want your life gain deck to move away from the more traditional black-based Orzhov and Golgari, you can instead move it into Selesnya with the help of Trelasarra, Moon Dancer. Having an Ajani’s Pridemate as your commander is pretty sick, as Trelesarra will quickly grow to colossal proportions, and the decks she leads tend to be filled with cards that gain a little bit of life as often as possible: Soul Warden, Authority of the Consuls, Pristine Talisman. This, plus a host of other Ajani’s Pridemate-type cards, mean that you’re making the most of the individual life gain triggers – and that’s not mentioning the cheesy things you can do with cards like Serra Ascendant and Felidar Sovereign! 

6. Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice

Trostani is also a real contender to lead green-white life gain decks, but much more powerful is its ability to populate each turn and provide you with a steady stream of tokens. Of course, we’re not wanting to just populate little 1/1 Soldiers, are we – cards like Crested Sunmare, Armada Wurm or Giant Adephage give us much more attractive populate targets. Throw in the usual Parallel Lives and Doubling Season effects (if you can afford them, that is) and your token army will quickly overwhelm the board – gaining you a billion life with Trostani’s triggered ability as it does. 

5. Rhys the Redeemed

If you’d rather go wide with small tokens, however, Rhys the Redeemed is better suited to your purpose. Rhys offers synergy between token and Elf-based strategies, and puts cards like Imperious Perfect to best use, creating tokens and powering them up. Rhys can go wider, quicker than Trostani, and looks to leverage a top-end of cards like Craterhoof Behemoth and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite to close out the game. In essence, however, Trostani and Rhys decks both look to do the same thing: flood the board with innumerable tokens, blast away opposing boards with Hour of Reckoning and attack for an overwhelming win. 

4. Kyler, Sigardian Emissary

Just as white-blue has Spirits and red-green has Werewolves, green-white tends to be associated with Humans as its tribe, and there’s no better Human tribal commander than Kyler, Sigardian Emissary. Kyler gets bigger with each Human you play, and then makes all other humans bigger for each counter he gets. It doesn’t stop there either, as Kyler decks are filled with other lord effects like Thalia’s Lieutenant and Victory’s Envoy and self-growing Humans like Champion of the Parish and Champion of Lambholt. Then there’s the Angel support suite: Sigarda, Heron’s Grace to give the team hexproof, Sigarda, Champion of Light to pump them up further and Angel of Glory’s Rise to mass reanimate your fallen heroes. 

3. Karametra, God of Harvests

Karametra is an incredible landfall enabler, as when you cast a landfall creature with her on the field, her ability allows you to go and fetch up a land to trigger the landfall creature then and there. Amazing! You can go very big with Karametra, and rack up huge rewards with everything from Lotus Cobra to Emeria Angel to the obscenely powerful Emeria Shepherd. Outside of the landfall creatures, it’s all the usual suspects: ramp spells, utility cards and – naturally – Mirari’s Wake to really go over the top. 

2. Arahbo, Roar of the World

If there’s another tribe you might associate with green-white, it would be Cats (although I’ve always found this troubling, as most Cats I know combine a lust for power and dominance with an affinity for unbridled chaos, so in my book they really should be black-red). Arahbo leads his Cat army from the command zone with a very strong eminence ability, bolstered with other powerful Cat tribal cards like Regal Caracal, Feline Sovereign and King of the Pride. There are lots of Cats that make other Cats – Leonin Warleader, Pride Sovereign, Brimaz, King of Oreskos – and sweet Cat cards appear at every point on the curve, from Hungry Lynx right up to Raksha Golden Cub, all ready to be buffed by Arahbo.

1. Sythis, Harvest’s Hand

Enchantress decks – that is, decks based on enchantment synergies – got a huge shot in the arm when Sythis, Harvest’s Hand was printed. Having a cheap commander that draws cards when you play enchantments is absolutely massive, and means you can get off to a flying start as you cast your Enchantress’s Presence, Sterling Grove and all-new Jukai Naturalists. Move up the curve from Setessan Champion to Eidolon of Blossoms to Sigil of the Empty Throne, and it becomes very obvious just how much power is packed into most enchantress decks – I hope, for your sake, you’re playing Bane of Progress or Austere Command!