MTG’s Most Popular Commander Has Been Officially Dethroned by a Final Fantasy Card

For more than a year, the progenitor dragon born at the dawn of time stood as the most popular Commander in Magic: The Gathering — at least, according to data from EDHREC, which uses its vast trove of user-generated deck lists to track the most popular cards in the format. As of Aug. 11, however, The Ur-Dragon has been dethroned by a cat lady warlock from Final Fantasy 14 named Y’shtola Rhul.

A blog post published by EDHREC on Tuesday confirmed the news, noting that Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed has been available for just shy of 15 months. Prerelease for last year’s Final Fantasy crossover set began on June 6, which means that it took Y’shtola 425 days to claim the crown with 49,813 decks currently registered to the site as of this writing. Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice had been the top Commander since her release in 2016 before The Ur-Dragon claimed the spot less than a week before Y’shtola hit the scene thanks to a boost from the dragon-heavy 2025 set Tarkir: Dragonstorm.

In a video breaking down the shift published by EDHREC last year, it’s noted that many Commanders spike in popularity when they’re released, but then general interest wanes as players move on to new sets. That never happened with Y’shtola. Why?

Image: Wizards of the Coast

It helps that she’s a cat lady from a hugely popular MMORPG that’s part of a major gaming franchise, but the obvious truth when it comes to “popularity” for a Commander is availability. Y’shtola is the headliner in one of Final Fantasy’s four preconstructed Commander decks, one that you can still find at or even below the MSRP of $69.99. For FF14 fans who play Magic, or even those who tried the TCG for the first time because of the Final Fantasy crossover, purchasing Y’shtola’s Scions & Spellcraft deck is a no-brainer.

Over on TCGplayer, single copies of Y’shtola cost anywhere between $1 and $4. It’s not hard or expensive to acquire your own Y’shtola and start building — which explains why nearly 50,000 people have done exactly that. The other three most popular Commanders on EDHREC, on the other hand, cost more than $20 each.

Image: Square Enix / Wizards of the Coast

A lot of great cards from Final Fantasy also have the same upside, but what really sets Y’shtola apart is her flexibility. The Ur-Dragon and the third most popular vampire Commander, Edgar Markov, are powerful but limiting — both emphasize typal strategies that focus on specific creature types. Neither card really gives a player much room for self-expression. Y’shtola, on the other hand, is a flexible and powerful engine around which you can build all sorts of decks.

Image: Square Enix / Wizards of the Coast

Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed is a four-cost (one colorless, one white, one blue, and one black mana) 2/4 with vigilance. If a player loses four or more life on any turn, you draw a card. And every time you cast a noncreature spell that costs three or more mana, Y’shtola pings each opponent for two damage while healing you for two.

In four-player Commander, the top ability might trigger multiple times per turn cycle. All you need is this cat warlock on the board, six mana, and the right cards in your hand — then you’ve got card draw, offense, and self-heal in a single package. A lot of Commanders focus on one or two of these things, yet Y’shtola has all three. Better yet, her bottom ability references “noncreature” spells, a broader term that includes instants, sorceries, enchantments, artifacts, and planeswalkers.

Do you want to build Y’shtola as a spellslinger deck? Go for it. Do you prefer artifacts? Esper is perfect for that. Enchantments, control, lifegain, reanimator, and even decks composed exclusively of Final Fantasy cards can all take advantage of her abilities. Y’shtola gives players nearly everything they could want from the Command Zone without telling them how to use it.

The Ur-Dragon asks players to build a dragon deck. Edgar Markov asks them to build a vampire deck. Y’shtola asks a much more compelling question: What kind of deck do you want to build? And that’s almost certainly why she’ll be the first Commander ever to reach 50,000 decks.