Magic: The Gathering's widely popular Commander format allows you to construct decks that revolve around a legendary creature of your choice that is reliably accessible during each game. One defining element of the Commander format is that decks can only contain cards within their commander's color identity, making commanders of three or more colors quite popular.
Despite this, you can build decks completely devoid of colored spells if you utilize a colorless commander. While there are fewer colorless commander options available than there are commanders of other color identities, there are still several powerful legendary creatures available for those looking to construct a colorless commander deck.
Updated on May 30, 2023 by Ryan Hay: While it doesn't happen often, there has been a fairly big influx of colorless commanders in Magic. While they are often artifact-based, there is also the occasional colorless creature. While the main colorless creature is an Eldrazi, a cosmic entity that exists between planes, only entering them to utterly consume them. There are of course two new legendary artifact creatures to add to the list, one who has made an impact across the Multiverse for generations, and a new take on one of Magic's oldest creature types. Let's take a look at these new colorless commanders and see how they stack up to the rest.
11 Kozilek, Butcher Of Truth
For those looking to construct a colorless deck with a massive and splashy win condition that is consistently available within the command zone, it may be worth considering Kozilek, Butcher of Truth as your next commander. A massive 12/12 for a staggering ten mana, upon entering the battlefield, Kozilek immediately helps you gain some steam by drawing you four additional cards.
Once in play, Kozilek serves as a highly dangerous threat due to having Annihilator 4, meaning that even if this creature is blocked, it can reliably clear away chunks of your opponents' board states each turn when it swings. Due to its high mana cost and somewhat self-sustaining nature, Kozilek decks should include a heavy number of mana rocks and means of mana ramping, so you can cast this threat as quickly as possible.
10 Hope Of Ghirapur
Printed in Aether Revolt, Hope of Ghirapur is an incredibly efficient colorless commander that can be built in numerous ways from Control to Voltron. The Hope of Ghirapur is a 1/1 Thopter artifact creature and costs only a single mana, allowing it to reliably be cast during the first turn of each game. While its efficiency and evasion make it a solid choice for Voltron decks that want to start attacking as quickly as possible, the Hope of Ghirapur can also offer control advantages.
This is because, if you've dealt combat damage to a player with the Hope of Ghirapur, it can be sacrificed, preventing that player from casting noncreature spells until your next turn, causing serious headaches for any deck that revolves around any card type besides creatures.
9 Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut
Look, sometimes in a Commander game you just want to smack your opponents around with some powerful creatures. Doesn't really matter what, you just want to hit hard and keep hitting. That's exactly what Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut does for you.
This eight-mana 7/5 Juggernaut turns all your creatures into Juggernauts too, setting their power and toughness to 5/3 and forcing them to attack every turn, but also making it so they can't be blocked by Wall creatures, making that one Wall player in your group look real awkward in a match. Throw in a bunch of small creatures or some way to produce a lot of token creatures, and you'll give them all a massive boost in power with Graaz in play.
8 Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is the second iteration of one of the iconic Eldrazi trio, serving as a devasting finisher that a deck could access reliably if used as a commander. Though demanding a steep mana cost of ten mana, this 10/10 indestructible Eldrazi is well worth the effort, immediately exiling any two target permanents as soon as it enters the battlefield.
In addition to serving as flexible removal and a massive body in combat, this creature immediately puts your opponents on a timer, as whenever Ulamog attacks, you exile the top twenty cards of the defending player's library. As Ulamog is a mana-intensive and self-sufficient card, Ulamog decks can include an extreme number of mana accelerants to help play Ulamog as quickly as possible.
7 Traxos, Scourge Of Kroog
Traxos, Scourge of Kroog is an undercosted colorless commander that synergizes with many of the most powerful artifacts in the entire commander format. For the cost of four mana, this sizable 7/7 with trample has the downside of entering the battlefield tapped and not naturally untapping during your upkeep. However, Traxos can be untapped whenever you cast a historic spell.
As artifacts are in fact historic spells, this means that a colorless deck such as one helmed by Traxos can be made up nearly entirely by artifacts, causing you to untap Traxos whenever you cast a spell! As this mitigates Traxos's key downside, it can serve as a massive threat, perfect to suit up with powerful equipment cards.
6 The Peregrine Dynamo
The Peregrine Dynamo is a highly underrated colorless commander with the potential to make already great permanents all the more powerful. A 1/5 with haste for the reasonable cost of three mana, the Peregrine Dynamo's primary value comes from its one-mana activated ability. Upon being activated, you may copy target activated or triggered ability from another legendary permanent you control.
As this ability notably allows you to copy triggered abilities, you can use the Peregrine Dynamo to copy the loyalty abilities of impressive colorless planeswalkers such as Karn and Ugin cards. Additionally, The Peregrine Dynamo has the potential to accrue significant value when paired with cards such as Lithoform Engine and Planar Bridge that have access to highly impactful activated abilities that can reliably be copied each turn with this commander.
5 Emrakul, The Promised End
It's hard not to want to go all in on an Eldrazi deck with Emrakul, the Promised End as your commander. With a staggeringly high cost of fifteen mana to cast, Emrakul likely won't be coming down early in the game. However, with a good amount of artifact-based ramp and the fact that Emrakul reduces its casting cost by one for each card type in your graveyard, you'll be able to cast her reliably time and time again.
Casting Emrakul is exactly what you'll want to do since when you do, you get to gain control of an opponent's next turn, giving them an additional turn immediately afterward that they will control.
Emrakul is also a monstrous commander with 13 power and toughness, taking only two attacks to take someone out with commander damage. This Eldrazi also has a unique form of evasion by having protection from instants, making the majority of targeted removal useless against it.
4 Karn, Silver Golem
For those looking to build a completely colorless artifact deck, Karn, Silver Golem is easily the most powerful option available, allowing you to fill your deck to the brim with the best utility artifacts in the game whilst still having access to a solid offense and defense. A 4/4 Golem for five mana that gets -4/+4 whenever it blocks or becomes blocked, the key appeal of Karn is the manner in which it interacts with your other artifact cards. For one mana, Karn's activated ability allows it to temporarily turn one of your noncreature artifacts into an artifact creature with a power and toughness equal to its mana value until the end of the turn.
This means that a Karn deck doesn't need to concern itself with including many creatures to attack or block with, as it can be used to turn anything from an Unwinding Clock to a Darksteel Forge into an offensive or defensive body on the board. Even the likes of your mana rocks can offer offensive value or help keep you afloat when in a bind.
3 Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter
Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter is a great option for anyone looking to build a colorless artifact deck. A 1/2 with flash and flying, not only can this spell be flexibly cast during an opponent's turn, Liberator provides each colorless and artifact spell you cast with flash as well. This means that each card within your colorless deck may be cast at instant speed, effectively giving you access to a Vedalken Orrery in your command zone.
As this ability allows you to safely cast your most key spells on an opponent's turn when they lack resources or may be caught by surprise, this is a great feature that any colorless deck would benefit from. While this ability is already a slam dunk, as you play progressively more expensive spells in a commander game, Liberator gains +1/+1 counters, allowing it to simultaneously serve as an evasive threat that can whittle down your opponent's life totals over the course of a game.
2 Kozilek, The Great Distortion
Though mana intensive, boasting a mana cost of ten, Kozilek, the Great Distortion is an incredibly powerful control commander that can make an opponent's life a nightmare as soon as it hits the table. A massive 12/12 Eldrazi with menace, Kozilek ensures that you have access to a full grip of cards, allowing you to draw until you have seven cards in hand when it initially enters the battlefield.
This is key, as Kozilek provides each card in your hand with a nefarious alternative use as long as it's in play. At any time, you can discard a card from your hand in order to counter a spell with that card's mana value. This means that if you're able to access consistent card draw and your deck features a diverse spread of mana costs, you can reliably counter any spell an opponent may cast!
1 Karn, Legacy Reforged
The second iteration of a Karn creature, Karn, Legacy Reforged features a newly epaired Karn back in action as a regular creature, with some hexgold highlights covering the damaged parts of his body. When in play, Karn's power and toughness are equal to the greatest mana value from among your artifacts.
The real power behind Karn comes from its second ability, which adds one colorless mana for each artifact you control. While this mana can't be used to cast nonartifact spells, you do get to keep it through phases and across turns, but only the mana you generate off of Karn.
Keep stockpiling mana until you are able to cast your massive spells like Darksteel Forge, Portal to Phyrexia, or a Blightsteel Colossus earlier in the game than your opponents might be ready for.