Summary
Magic: The Gatheringhas never shied away from the dark side of fantasy. As early as Alpha, it featured cards that peered into the abyss, showing us the kinds of monsters we vaguely recognised from our nightmares. Despite all this horror, the creature-type Horror actually wasn’t introduced until Legends, being retroactively applied to older creatures later on.
Horrors, much like the real-world fears they represent, are a varied sort, combining card theft, discard effects, and evasion, among other abilities. Building a dedicated Horror deck for Commander is no easy task since nightmares don’t naturally play well together, but if it’s something you want to do then these ten eldritch allies are the perfect monsters for the job.
Updated June 12, 2025 by Ryan Hay:The dark and horrible corners of Magic: The Gathering hid some truly monstrous entities. Creatures of unspeakable terror, beings whose very visage can turn the mind of the strongest mage. Three new Horrors join the list of most terrifying commanders, The Gitrog Monster, Smeagol, Helpful Guide, and Sauron, Lord of the Rings, each of which comes with their own style of evil to inflict upon the world.
17Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus
Count All Those Arms
Being a standout Horror on the Plane of New Phyrexia, perhaps the most wretched hive of scum and villainy in the Multiverse, is no easy task. Tekuthal should get some credit for doing just that, establishing himself as one of the most powerful members ofPhyrexia: All Will Be One’sDominus cycle.
Doubling up on proliferate triggers can let counter-based strategies spiral out of control fast, buffing your creatures and planeswalkers while dishing out more poison counters to your opponents, if you go that route. The beauty of the card is in its flexibility, however, and the low cost required to protect Tekuthal from the majority of removal.
16Captain N’Ghathrod
Part Of the Ship, Part Of The Horror
While appearing at first glance to be a bargain-bin Davy Jones, this terror of the high seas actually more than lives up to the inspiration he wears on his ruffled sleeve. Granting all of your Horrors, himself included, menace helps your motley crew get through for combat damage, which is then converted into cards milled by his second ability.
At the end of the turn, when the raid is over, you can then dredge up one of the cards you cast into the depths, to use for your own twisted ends. It’s a suitably macabretake on a Pirate captain, and one that can take your Horror deck in an interesting new direction.
15Umbris, Fear Manifest
The Ultimate Nightmare
Truly the Horror’s Horror, Umbris can chew through libraries with frightening efficiency, provided you have other unspeakable evils to back him up. Whenever Umbris, or another Nightmare or Horror, comes into play under your control, you can take a chunk out of an opponent’s deck, with every card exiled feeding back into Umbris’ stats.
Since Umbris will likely retain these stats even after being removed, due to the difficulty of interacting with cards in exile, decks with him at the helm have the option of trying to mill their opponents out of the game. You can also just land a huge knockout blow with Umbris himself to deal enough commander damage for a win. If you’re looking to Manifest victory, this is the Horror to call.
14Nihiloor
Too Many Tentacles
A master of mental manipulation, Nihiloor can seize control of up to one creature per opponent when it comes into play, provided you have creatures of equivalent power to tap. This allows for all manner of shenanigans, from stealing huge threats, to snatching crucial utility creatures that your opponents need to keep their decks running.
These creatures are yours for as long as Nihiloor is in play, which gives you plenty of time to sacrifice them to prevent your opponents from regaining control. Combine this with the white in Nihiloor’s colour identity, allowing easy access to blink effects that can steal even more creatures, and you have a disruptive threat that will annoy your opponents to no end.
13Toxrill, The Corrosive
An Immediate Threat
A staple commander that scales well with a large playgroup, Toxrill slowly wears down every opposing creature over time, creating Slug tokens whenever one succumbs to his sinister slime. That alone is horrific enough for Toxrill to earn his creature type, but the fact that he can consume the slugs he births in exchange for cards takes things to another level of disgusting.
Toxrill is, simply, a great self-contained commander. His abilities are incredibly powerful, with the ‘each end step’ clause doing a lot of heavy lifting, and he’s unstoppable against Aggro decks in the format. As Horrors go, Toxrill is one of the very best.
12Arvinox, The Mind Flail
So Strange, This Thing
Like a macabre twist on theGods of Theros, Arvinox only takes physical form as a creature once a specific condition is met. The condition in this case is controlling three permanents you don’t own, which can be accomplished through traditional Control Magic-style effects, or through Arvinox’s own ability, which lets you exile and play cards from the bottom of opposing libraries.
This essentially ‘draws’ you three extra cards a turn in a standard pod, giving you plenty of opportunities to use your opponents’ favourite cards against them. The fact that Arvinox isn’t a creature all of the time can also be an advantage, as it lets it dodge most removal in the format and carry on with its card-stealing ways.
11Yarok, The Desecrated
Double The Atrocities
Enters-the-battlefield triggers are the deep wellswithin which much of the power in modern Magic cards can be found, which is why Yarok, who lets you double down on said effects, is such a powerful Horror in Commander.
Not only does it double the effects of the cards themselves, but also the effects of cards in play that activate in response, which can easily lead to explosive chain reactions. It’s a versatile commander, doubly so thanks to its three-color identity, which lets you get creative when putting together your deck and bring in Horrors from all manner of backgrounds.
10Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar
An Educated Illithid
One of Magic’s myriad interpretations of the Mindflayer, an iconic Dungeons & Dragons monster, Grazilaxx combines drawing with discretion in a package that can easily drain your opponents’ minds dry. The ability to bounce any of your blocked creatures back to your hand has several uses, letting you protect your Horrors and re-use their enters-the-battlefield effects.
His other effect, which draws you a card whenever one of your creatures gets through for damage, plays perfectly with the evasion that often features on Horrors, providing you with a steady stream of new Nightmares to haunt your opponents with.
9K’rrik, Son Of Yawgmoth
While not quite as powerful as his illustrious father, the apple didn’t fall far from the fleshy, mechanical tree when it came to K’rrik. Embodying the black ideal of ‘power at any cost’ better than almost any other card, K’rrik offers the potential for huge mana discounts, if you’re willing to risk it all and take huge chunks out of your life total.
The natural application for this is in a high-speed combo deck, but you can use it in a straightforward Horror-filled value deck as well, to cheat out your bomb creatures early and take over the game.Yawgmoth’s diabolical legacyis, unfortunately, in safe hands.
8Zellix, Sanity Flayer
Great Minds Think The Same
Milling out your opponents’ libraries, as an analog for devouring their minds, is a common thread among Horrors in Magic, and Zellix does it better than most. Not only can he mill your opponents himself for a low cost, but he can also generate Horror tokens each time a creature is milled.
This is a nice bit of internal synergy that plays well with a deck full of Horrors, and that’s before you get to Zellix’s other ability, which lets you choose a background as well. This opens up many options in terms of color identity for your deck. Build your deck right, and it won’t be long before Zellix has Flayed your opponents’ decks clean of cards.
