Short answer: The most popular Abzan (white-black-green) commanders right now are a partner pair from The Lord of the Rings: Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit and Sam, Loyal Attendant, with 3,412 EDHREC decks in the past month and 27,656 all time. Next are Betor, Ancestor’s Voice, Felothar the Steadfast, Doran, Besieged by Time and The Necrobloom. It’s also a cheap top five: every commander costs under $4.
Updated October 24, 2026 · Rankings from EDHREC’s Abzan commander page (decks added in the past month) · TCGplayer market prices checked October 24, 2026
Who this is for: Commander players picking an Abzan deck to build, or curious what’s popular in white, black and green right now. For each commander you get what it does, how the deck plays, and three cards to build around, with the share of that commander’s EDHREC decks that run each one.
What are the best Abzan commanders right now?
| Commander | Decks (past month) | Decks (all time) | Plays like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frodo and Sam | 3,412 | 27,656 | Food and lifegain |
| Betor, Ancestor’s Voice | 2,727 | 20,630 | Gain life, lose life |
| Felothar the Steadfast | 2,113 | 21,333 | Walls that attack |
| Doran, Besieged by Time | 1,838 | 13,946 | Tough creatures |
| The Necrobloom | 1,652 | 22,859 | Lands and tokens |
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We ranked by decks added in the past month because it shows what people are building now. The all-time column shows which commanders have stayed popular. Click any card below to check its price on TCGplayer.
1. Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit and Sam, Loyal Attendant
What it does: Frodo ({W}{B}, 1/3 vigilance): whenever he attacks, if you gained 3 or more life this turn, the Ring tempts you, and once it has tempted you twice with Frodo as Ring-bearer, he draws you a card. Sam ({1}{G}{W}, 2/4): makes a Food at the beginning of combat on your turn, and your Foods cost {1} less to use.
How the deck plays: A Food deck led by a partner pair. Sam makes Food, each Food you eat gains you 3 life, and that life turns on Frodo. Partner with means Sam can even fetch Frodo from your library. Sam costs about $0.59, so the pair is under a dollar. More Middle-earth picks in our best LOTR Commander cards.
Build around:
- Peregrin Took ($0.41, in 87% of decks): an extra Food every time you make tokens
- Gilded Goose ($0.36, in 84% of decks): makes Food and turns it into mana
- Tireless Provisioner ($2.45, in 79% of decks): a Food or Treasure for every land you play
Popularity and price: 3,412 EDHREC decks in the past month (27,656 total, the most of any Abzan commander). Market price $0.34 for Frodo (TCGplayer, Oct 24). Check today’s price on TCGplayer
2. Betor, Ancestor’s Voice
What it does: Flying, lifelink. At the beginning of your end step, put +1/+1 counters on another creature equal to the life you gained this turn, and return a creature card from your graveyard with mana value up to the life you lost this turn.
How the deck plays: A deck that wants to gain life and lose life in the same turn. Gaining grows your best creature, and losing life brings a creature back from the dead.
Build around:
- Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn ($0.66, in 62% of decks): spreads even more counters when you gain life
- Black Market Connections ($11.85, in 56% of decks): pay life every turn for cards, Treasure and creatures, then let Betor turn that life into a reanimation
- Soul Warden ($3.34, in 49% of decks): 1 life every time any creature enters
Popularity and price: 2,727 EDHREC decks in the past month (20,630 total). Market price $3.52 (TCGplayer, Oct 24). Check today’s price on TCGplayer
3. Felothar the Steadfast
What it does: Your creatures deal combat damage equal to their toughness rather than their power, and creatures with defender can attack. Pay {3}, tap and sacrifice another creature to draw cards equal to its toughness, then discard cards equal to its power.
How the deck plays: Walls that attack, in Abzan colors. High-toughness defenders block all day, then swing for their toughness, and Felothar can cash them in for a big pile of cards.
Build around:
- Tree of Redemption ($0.67, in 86% of decks): a 0/13 wall that hits for 13
- Jaws of Defeat ($0.93, in 85% of decks): every high-toughness creature that enters makes an opponent lose life
- Weathered Sentinels ($1.05, in 82% of decks): a 2/5 wall that grows to 5/8 and indestructible when it attacks
Popularity and price: 2,113 EDHREC decks in the past month (21,333 total). Market price $2.89 (TCGplayer, Oct 24). Check today’s price on TCGplayer
4. Doran, Besieged by Time
What it does: Creature spells with toughness greater than their power cost {1} less. Whenever a creature you control attacks or blocks, it gets +X/+X, where X is the difference between its power and toughness.
How the deck plays: A newer take on the classic Doran deck: cheap, tough creatures that get much bigger in combat. A 0/4 attacks as a 4/8.
Build around:
- Great Forest Druid ($0.28, in 72% of decks): a 0/4 mana creature that costs 1 with Doran out
- Assault Formation ($0.37, in 64% of decks): creatures deal damage equal to their toughness
- Doran, the Siege Tower ($8.14, in 64% of decks): the original Doran, which does the same for every creature
Popularity and price: 1,838 EDHREC decks in the past month (13,946 total). Market price $0.59 (TCGplayer, Oct 24). Check today’s price on TCGplayer
5. The Necrobloom
What it does: Landfall: whenever a land enters under your control, create a 0/1 Plant, or a 2/2 Zombie once you control seven or more lands with different names. Land cards in your graveyard have dredge 2.
How the deck plays: A lands deck. Every land drop makes a creature, and dredge lets you pull lands back from your graveyard instead of drawing, which also fills the graveyard for more.
Build around:
- The Gitrog Monster ($0.53, in 76% of decks): an extra land drop each turn and a card for every land that hits your graveyard
- Six ($5.65, in 65% of decks): mills three on attack and lets you recast permanents from the graveyard
- Scute Swarm ($8.26, in 65% of decks): a landfall Insect that copies itself once you have six lands
Popularity and price: 1,652 EDHREC decks in the past month (22,859 total). Market price $0.38 (TCGplayer, Oct 24). Check today’s price on TCGplayer
Why play Abzan?
Abzan has green’s ramp and big creatures, white’s removal and lifegain, and black’s card draw and reanimation. What it lacks is blue’s counterspells and red’s direct damage, so most Abzan decks win by building a sturdy board and grinding out long games. Three of the five commanders above (Felothar, Doran and The Necrobloom) care about tough creatures or lands, which shows how defensive the colors can be.
The cheapest way in is Doran or The Necrobloom. Both commanders cost under 60 cents, and Doran’s key cards are mostly under 40 cents.
Honorable mentions
- Anikthea, Hand of Erebos (1,248 decks in the past month, about $4.99): an enchantments deck. Whenever she enters or attacks, she turns an enchantment card from your graveyard into a 3/3 Zombie copy, and your enchantment creatures have menace.
- Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant (713 decks, about $0.34): you gain 1 extra life every time you gain life, and once you have 111 or more life (a nod to his eleventy-first birthday), you can exile him to put any number of creatures from your library onto the battlefield. More Bilbo in our Bilbo and Smaug Commander guide.
More three-color commander rankings: Jeskai, Bant, Esper, Mardu, Grixis, Naya and Sultai.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Abzan commander?
Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit and Sam, Loyal Attendant are the most-built Abzan commanders on EDHREC, both in the past month (3,412 decks) and of all time (27,656).
What colors are Abzan?
White, black and green. The name comes from the Abzan Houses, a clan from the plane of Tarkir.
What’s the cheapest Abzan commander to build?
The Necrobloom ($0.38) and Doran, Besieged by Time ($0.59). Frodo and Sam together also cost under a dollar.
Do you need both Frodo and Sam?
They have “partner with,” so you can play them as two commanders. Sam can find Frodo from your library when he enters, and his Food powers Frodo’s lifegain trigger.
Sources: EDHREC Abzan commander rankings (past month and all time) and each commander’s EDHREC page, checked October 24, 2026; card text from Scryfall; TCGplayer market prices checked October 24, 2026. Card images: Wizards of the Coast, via Scryfall.
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