One of the strongest aspects of this year's releases is how well they supported Commander decks beyond the command zone. Across Standard sets and Universes Beyond, 2025 gave every Commander player creatures that slide directly into the 99 and immediately improved how decks function. Raise your hand if you enjoy lands, graveyards, triggers, big creatures, tokens, or spells. Okay, put 'em down because there were tools released that augment those strategies without asking you to rebuild from the ground up.

That's the focus of these picks because none of these creatures are meant to helm a deck. They aren't build-around commanders or identity pieces. They're role-players, engines, and accelerants that reward good deck construction and sequencing. These are the kind of cards you draw midgame and feel relieved to see because they move your plan forward. Without further ado, let's look at the creatures that will be part of your horde.

Icetill Explorer

Icetill Explorer packs three effects that Green decks already want into a single, efficient body. Extra land drops keep your engine ahead of schedule, playing lands from the graveyard gives you resilience against removal and discard, and the landfall mill quietly fuels recursion strategies. This Insect Scout never feels wasted, no matter when you draw it.

In decks that care about lands or graveyards, Icetill Explorer smooths early turns and supercharges late ones without asking for setup.

Good with commanders like:

• The Necrobloom because milling and replaying lands feeds its recursion loop naturally.
• Lord Windgrace since extra land drops and graveyard access are exactly what the deck is built to exploit.
• Thalia and The Gitrog Monster where steady land advantage keeps pressure on opponents.

Voice of Victory

Voice of Victory does something powerful yet often undervalued by more inexperienced players. It gives you attackers while also preventing opponents from interacting on your turn. Mobilize ensures you always have bodies to work with, and the silence effect turns your combat steps and main phases into safe zones.

Aggressive and go-wide decks love this card because it creates windows where opponents simply can't stop you from executing your plan.

Good with commanders like:

• Isshin, Two Heavens as One since doubling attack triggers turns Mobilize into real pressure.
• Winota, Joiner of Forces where free attackers help snowball explosive turns.
• Zurgo Stormrender gives you card draw from the warrior tokens dying.

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian

Wan Shi Tong might be legendary, but its real home is in the 99. Flash lets it come down at the right moment, flying and vigilance keep it relevant in combat, and its scaling card draw punishes opponents for doing normal Commander things like tutoring and ramping.

Over a long game, Wan Shi Tong becomes a massive threat while keeping your hand full.

Good with commanders like:

• Avatar Aang // Aang, Master of Elements because its a thematic and still strong pairing.
• Niv-Mizzet, Parun since extra cards directly translate into damage.
• Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant where card advantage compounds control.

Badgermole Cub

Badgermole Cub blurs the line between lands and creatures in a way Commander decks are happy to abuse. Earthbend turns lands into mana creatures, and then rewards you for tapping creatures for mana by generating even more Green. The result is explosive turns that feel almost unfair when everything lines up.

This card thrives in decks that already treat their board as a flexible resource pool.

Good with commanders like:

• Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss because a mana dork army is insane!
• Selvala, Heart of the Wilds since extra mana compounds her draw and ramp.
• Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy who turns creature-based mana into absurd acceleration.

Starfield Vocalist

Trigger doubling is always dangerous, and Starfield Vocalist adds flexibility by letting you warp it in and out of play. Doubling ETB and landfall triggers can generate huge bursts of value, and Warp ensures you can reuse the effect even if opponents deal with it. It doesn't need to stick around long to justify its slot, actually.

Good with commanders like:

• Yarok, the Desecrated where doubling triggers stacks multiplicatively.
• Omnath, Locus of Creation to amplify landfall turns.
• Chulane, Teller of Tales or actually any of the great Bant ETB commanders.

Temur Battlecrier

Temur Battlecrier rewards decks for doing what they already want to do: play big creatures and stomp the competition into dust. Having these large creatures makes your spells cheaper, which lets you deploy more threats in the same turn. Once you're ahead, Temur Battlecrier helps ensure you stay there.

Good with commanders like:

• Surrak Dragonclaw where big creatures and combat pressure define the deck.
• Animar, Soul of Elements stacking cost reduction on top of existing discounts.
• Eshki, Temur's Roar from the same set and cares about power 4 or greater too!

Traveling Chocobo

Traveling Chocobo offers steady card advantage with a kindred twist. Playing lands and Birds from the top of your library keeps momentum going, while doubling triggered abilities rewards decks that care about incremental value. It's friendly on the surface, but silently strong over multiple turns.

Good with commanders like:

• Choco, Seeker of Paradise because the synergy and the sheer cute-ness of this duo deserves mention.
• Tatyova, Benthic Druid to double landfall value.
• Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle supporting land-heavy ramp strategies.

Summon: Bahamut

Summon: Bahamut is a spectacle with teeth. It removes a problem permanent, refills your hand, and then threatens to end the game with Mega Flare. The longer it survives, the more pressure it applies to the entire table. Decks that build wide or tall turn this into a genuine finisher.

Good with commanders like:

• Jodah, the Unifier where high mana value permanents amplify the final chapter.
• Esika, God of the Tree letting legends fuel Mega Flare.
• Terra, Magical Adept // Esper Terra a five color saga-focused commander? And she's the FF6 hero that's all about summons? No brainer pairing.

Summon These Creatures

Taken together, these creatures show a clear throughline in 2025's Commander design. Despite the ever increasing number of legendaries released to push the Commander format, the year also delivered strong supporting pieces that fit naturally into established archetypes. These are cards that scale with the table, interact with existing engines in exciting ways, and create meaningful decisions in both deck-building and the actual gameplay.

Strong cards in the 99 carry forward between decks, reward experimentation, and give players more ways to express how they like to play. 2025's creature designs leaned into that philosophy, and the format is all the better for it.