Looking for the best equipment cards in MTG to run in your Commander and EDH deck? We’ve narrowed down the best of the best for your consideration!
Some equipment cards are run in nearly every Commander deck due to their broken power level, while others are backbreaking when paired with the right creatures.
In this list, we’ve got the very best equipment for almost any strategy in Commander. If you need protection, haste, beefy creatures, card advantage, tutoring, removal, and more, there’s an equipment card that can get the job done!
Without further ado, here are the top 12 Best Equipment Cards in Commander:
#1 Lightning Greaves
Was there ever any doubt? Lightning Greaves is the best equipment card in Commander & EDH. It slots into virtually every deck. Giving your Commander haste for zero mana the turn it comes out gives you an extra tap activation or attack you otherwise wouldn’t have had.
As if haste wasn’t good enough, your Commander will dodge all spot removal thanks to shroud. Keep in mind, you also won’t be able to target your own creatures with shroud! It’s a bit different than hexproof in that way.
#2 Skullclamp
Arguably, the best card draw engine in Commander, and the second-best equipment in the format, is Skullclamp. Elfball and token-based decks love this card.
Can you believe the -1 toughness modifier was originally designed by MTG to make Skullclamp worse? This design mistake turned Skullclamp into one of the greatest equipments of all time. Token decks can pay 1 mana to equip a 1/1 token and draw 2 cards!
#3 Swiftfoot Boots
MTG realized that shroud on Lightning Greaves was a bit of a buzzkill for Commanders that want you to target them. They fixed the design by having Swiftfoot Boots give hexproof instead of haste to creatures it equips.
Many decks choose to run both Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots. They both serve as mana-efficient ways to protect your Commander and give it haste.
#4 Sunforger
Sunforger is a repeatable tutor card for Boros decks and is widely respected for its impact on the format. So much so, that you may become the archenemy of the table after casting it!
No matter what the situation calls for, a Swords to Plowshares, Tibalt’s Trickery, Teferi’s Protection, Sunforger can repeatably grab and play the card you need to win or thwart opponents.
#5 Sting, the Glinting Dagger
Sting is an absolute all-star with any Commander that has a tap ability. Somehow, it’s still relatively a secret in the Commander community. Once you’ve played with it or against it, you’ll understand why it’s near the top of our list.
Imagine you have a tap ability Commander like Krenko, Mob Boss, and 2 other goblins in play when you equip Sting. Here’s what happens:
- Your Turn: Main Phase 1 – Tap Krenko. Create 3 goblins. (now 6 goblins in play)
- Your Turn: Main Phase 2 – Sting has untapped Krenko at the beginning of combat. Tap Krenko again and create 6 goblins (now 12 goblins in play)
- Player #2 Turn – Sting untaps Krenko again at the beginning of combat. Tap Krenko and create 12 goblins (now 24 goblins in play)
- Player #3 Turn – Sting untaps Krenko. Tap again to create 24 goblins (now 48 goblins in play)
- Player #4 Turn – Sting untaps Krenko. Tap again to create 48 goblins (now 96 goblins in play)
Start your turn with 96 goblins that no longer have summoning sickness and can attack.
As you can see, that’s insane! Run Sting, the Glinting Dagger with any Commander with a tap ability.
#6 Sword of Feast and Famine
Sword of Feast and Famine is the premier ramp card of Commander. Protection from green (and black) will give you favorable odds of pushing attack damage through. If you can push attack damage through, you get to double up your mana for the turn. Remember to cast your spells before attacks if this is your plan!
If the last player left in the game is in Golgari colors, Sword of Feast and Famine is a spectacular finisher. Protection from black dodges most removal, and protection from green will dodge most blockers.
#7 Blackblade Reforged
If your idea of a good equipment card is more power and toughness, Blackblade Reforged is the card for you. Mid and late game it will give your Commander +6/+6 or so. Not bad for only 3 mana to equip. For this reason, Blackblade Reforged is the cornerstone of any voltron equipment Commander build.
#8 The Reality Chip
The Reality Chip gives Skullclamp a run for its money in blue decks. You can easily play or cast 2-3 cards a turn if it’s equipped to a creature.
The ability to play lands from the top of your library helps you dig more than other cards that let you play off the top. Add fetches to your deck and other cards that reorder like Ponder to increase your ability to dig for the spells you need.
#9 Shadowspear
Some Commander decks treat your life total as a resource. Think about cards like Black Market Connections. Shadowspear has a very efficient mana cost to give you the life back you need to keep your life-loss engines going.
There’s also times when opponents have given their creatures indestructible or hexproof to dodge removal to win the game, and Shadowspear gets around that. Sadly, it doesn’t get around shroud, so you’re still out of luck vs Lightning Greaves.
#10 Sword of the Animist
Non-green decks have it rough when it comes to ramp. Sword of the Animist is the best card to get multiple ramp triggers for those other colors.
Late game it’s a bit weaker than Sword of Feast and Famine, but the upside is that you always get to trigger the land ramp on attack, even if damage doesn’t go through.
#11 Basilisk Collar
Basilisk Collar has been legendary in the Commander format for over a decade. Lifelink is a bonus, but deathtouch is the secret sauce. Run this with decks like Kelsien, the Plague to turn pingers into a card that destroys any creature on tap.
#12 Commander’s Plate
Finally, we have Commander’s Plate with exquisite artwork by Volkan Baga. “Not all beautiful things are fragile” indeed.
Commander’s Plate is a third method of protection beyond Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots for decks that really need it. It’s mostly played in mono-colored decks, and two-color voltron builds.
Protection from 3 or 4 colors makes your Commander hard to kill and block. If you’re a colorless Eldrazi deck, you also get protection from all 5 colors! The +3 pump also isn’t bad to push through extra damage.
Those are our top 12 best equipment cards in Magic: The Gathering’s Commander & EDH Format! If you liked this list, check out our guide to the best new MH3 cards for Commander!
READ MORE: MTG 10 Best Goblin Commanders
