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Best Equipment Commanders in MTG

Equipment decks have two bills to pay: casting the Equipment and getting it onto a creature. A good commander helps with those costs, keeps cards coming or rewards you for attacking. Your next decision is whether to build one enormous attacker or spread the weapons across a team.

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Choose what your Equipment commander should solve

Our picks cover different ways to build the theme. They are editorial recommendations, not a popularity or win-rate ranking.

  • Beginner-friendly A clear plan with few decisions per turn
  • Budget-friendly The commander is inexpensive and the deck works without pricey staples
  • High power Among the strongest versions of the theme
Wyleth, Soul of Steel — Magic: The Gathering card

Wyleth, Soul of Steel — attack and refill your hand

Color identity: White, RedComplexity: Medium

Wyleth draws a card for each Aura and Equipment attached to it when it attacks. That makes it a natural fit for a focused Voltron build. You don’t need to deal combat damage to get the cards, but you do need to commit to attacking and keep Wyleth alive.

Strengths

  • Trample, and a card for each Aura and Equipment on it whenever it attacks
  • Three mana in two colors
  • Works with both Auras and Equipment

Watch out for

  • A 2/2 body needs gear to matter
  • If it dies, you lose tempo, so protection is important

Best for: Players who like to attack with one well-equipped creature and refill their hand.

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Sram, Senior Edificer — Magic: The Gathering card

Sram, Senior Edificer — draw while you set up

Color identity: WhiteComplexity: LowBeginner-friendlyBudget-friendly

Sram draws cards when you cast Aura, Equipment or Vehicle spells. Unlike an attack-based engine, he can help before combat. Cheap Equipment keeps the deck moving, but card draw isn’t a finish on its own. Decide which creatures will carry the weapons and how they’ll get past blockers.

Strengths

  • Draws a card for every Aura, Equipment or Vehicle you cast
  • Two mana and mono-white: simple and cheap
  • Fits any pile of gear

Watch out for

  • Draws only on casting, so putting Equipment onto the battlefield doesn’t count
  • A 2/2 body that doesn’t attack well

Best for: Newcomers who want to draw cards while they set up.

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Akiri, Fearless Voyager — Magic: The Gathering card

Akiri, Fearless Voyager — reward more than one attacker

Color identity: White, RedComplexity: MediumBudget-friendly

Akiri draws a card for each player you attack with one or more equipped creatures. That rewards spreading attacks around a multiplayer table. Her activated ability can unattach Equipment to tap and protect its creature with indestructible. You still need to plan for exile effects and other answers that don’t destroy.

Strengths

  • Draws a card when you attack a player with equipped creatures
  • A {W} ability can save a creature from destroy effects by unattaching
  • A three-mana 3/3

Watch out for

  • Needs an equipped creature that can attack
  • Unattaching taps the creature and costs you the equip

Best for: Players who attack with a few equipped creatures at a time.

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Nahiri, Forged in Fury — Magic: The Gathering card

Nahiri, Forged in Fury — keep an equipped army moving

Color identity: White, RedComplexity: MediumHigh power

Equipment reduces Nahiri’s generic casting cost. Attacking equipped creatures then give you access to cards from the top of your library, with a special reward for Equipment spells. She suits a wider battlefield. Avoid packing the deck with weapons but leaving too few creatures to carry them.

Strengths

  • Costs less for every Equipment you control
  • Equipped attackers exile cards you may play, Equipment free of charge
  • A 5/4 body

Watch out for

  • Still six mana without Equipment out
  • Exiled cards must be played that turn

Best for: Players who want a lot of Equipment out and like a card-advantage engine.

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Bruenor Battlehammer — Magic: The Gathering card

Bruenor Battlehammer — make your first equip activation cheaper

Color identity: White, RedComplexity: LowBeginner-friendlyBudget-friendly

Bruenor boosts equipped creatures and lets you pay zero for the first equip ability you activate each turn. He helps Equipment with expensive equip costs pull its weight. The discount doesn’t apply to every attachment or every equip activation, so the order of your actions matters.

Strengths

  • +2/+0 for every Equipment on each creature
  • The first equip each turn is free
  • A 5/3 for four mana

Watch out for

  • Little card draw of its own
  • Stacked Equipment on one creature loses value to a single removal spell

Best for: Newcomers who want to attack right away.

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Equipment commanders compared

All five at a glance. Complexity and budget are our judgement; see each commander above for the reasons.

CommanderColorsPlanComplexityBudget-friendlyBuild
Wyleth, Soul of SteelAttack and refill your handMedium—Build
Sram, Senior EdificerDraw while you set upLowYesBuild
Akiri, Fearless VoyagerReward more than one attackerMediumYesBuild
Nahiri, Forged in FuryKeep an equipped army movingMedium—Build
Bruenor BattlehammerMake your first equip activation cheaperLowYesBuild

Count carriers as well as weapons

Puresteel Paladin provides card draw when Equipment enters under your control and can give your Equipment equip zero once you have metalcraft. Sword of the Animist rewards attacks by finding basic lands. Both fit every commander above. They’re useful for different reasons: one supports your engine, while the other helps your mana develop.

For an economical build, start with reliable carriers and modest Equipment rather than assuming you need a full suite of premium Swords. Expensive weapons don’t help when no creature survives to use them.

Key cards and synergies for Equipment

Cards that show up in many Equipment decks, by the job they do. Which ones fit depends on your commander’s colors.

Equipment worth the equip cost

Pieces that win games on their own.

  • Bonesplitter — +2/+0 for an equip cost of 1: the cheapest way to make any creature a threat.
  • Sword of Fire and Ice — +2/+2 and protection from red and blue, and a hit deals 2 damage and draws a card.
  • Embercleave — Flash, double strike and trample, attached when it enters.
  • Whispersilk Cloak — The equipped creature can’t be blocked and has shroud.

Tutors and cost reducers

Find the right piece and put it onto the battlefield cheaply.

  • Stoneforge Mystic — Finds an Equipment and can put one onto the battlefield from your hand.
  • Puresteel Paladin — Draws a card when Equipment enters, and equip costs 0 with three artifacts.
  • Brass Squire — Attaches Equipment for free by tapping.
  • Godo, Bandit Warlord — Puts an Equipment from your library onto the battlefield and adds a combat.

Protection and utility

Keep the carrier alive and the hand full.

  • Swiftfoot Boots — Hexproof and haste for an equip cost of 1.
  • Lightning Greaves — Haste and shroud, and it equips for free.
  • Skullclamp — Draws two cards when the equipped creature dies.
  • Sunforger — +4/+0, and in Boros it can cast a red or white instant for free.

Best budget Equipment commanders

Equipment is friendly to a small budget: the best cheap pieces cost almost nothing, and the commanders here don’t need the expensive Swords to work.

Sram, Senior Edificer

Sram, Senior Edificer

A two-mana mono-white commander that draws for cheap Equipment.

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Bruenor Battlehammer

Bruenor Battlehammer

Cheap Equipment gets big quickly, and the first equip each turn is free.

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Akiri, Fearless Voyager

Akiri, Fearless Voyager

Draws cards for attacking with whatever Equipment you have.

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Prices change daily, so this page names none. Commandarium shows today’s price for every card in a deck, and counts what you already own.

Equipment Commander FAQ

Is Equipment always a Voltron strategy?

No. Voltron focuses power on one creature. Equipment can also support several attackers, especially with Akiri or Nahiri.

Does Equipment go to the graveyard when its creature dies?

Usually it stays on the battlefield, unattached. You can equip it to another creature by paying the appropriate cost.

When can I activate equip?

Normally during your main phase, while the stack is empty. Specific cards can change that timing or attach Equipment through a different ability.

Put the Equipment in your collection to work

Choose a commander in Commandarium and build around the weapons, creatures and protection you already own.

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Related reading

Voltron

Suit up one creature with Equipment, Auras or counters and win with commander damage.

Art: Jason Rainville · Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist10 commanders compared →

Artifacts

Artifacts as mana, creatures, card draw and fodder for the next big turn.

Art: Grzegorz Rutkowski · Urza, Lord High Artificer5 commanders compared →

More ways to start

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