MTG: Form Ranks! – Top Five Soldier Commanders
These Commanders are all about rank and order. Once enough of them have assembled on the field, they’re unstoppable.
Welcome Planeswalkers and Praetors to our ongoing series about the best casual experience in Magic: Commander.
Soldiers are a bit like Slivers in that they are stronger the more of them there are. While they don’t have the punchy effects that Slivers usually do, they can multiply to a degree only matched by Elves. You can go from a blank board to an army in next to no time, and with the right Commander, that army can become a real weapon of war. Once you’ve got your army ready, you can unleash a deadly assault that your opponents will be helpless to stop.
Commander Mustard
A card so powerful he has Commander in his name, Mustard is a phenomenal general for your Soldier army. He’s a 5/5 with vigilance for five, which is a phenomenal bargain. But he didn’t become Commander on his own, and his power comes into its own once he has an army behind him.
Mustard has a snazzy anthem effect that gives all your other Soldiers vigilance, haste, and trample. This can turn a few 2/2s into an ordered rank of powerful warriors, but that’s not where the spicy stops. For four mana, all of your Soldiers deal one damage to your opponent whenever they attack. Get an army big enough, and blockers don’t even matter.
Myrel, Shield of Argive
Myrel is an incredible Commander, and honestly, the gap between her and Mustard is likely very small. She’s an incredible fighter at 3/4, and she was a nice lockdown effect to keep you safe on your turn. Playing into blue or red, you can stop damage and bounce effects in their tracks, and you can keep your board safe.
Speaking of your board, Myrel can take it from small skirmish to epic battle in only a few turns. Whenever she attacks, she essentially doubles your Soldiers, building a construct army from scratch. Add in a Coat of Arms, and you’ll have a single-turn knockout.
Harbin, Vanguard Aviator
Harbin admittedly needs a little more backup than the previous two Commanders, but that doesn’t make him weak by any stretch. He’s a 3/2 with flying for two, which is a great bargain. Even better, if you get enough fighters, he builds airships for them. As long as you’re attacking with five or more Soldiers, all your creatures get +1/+1 and flying. You’ll almost always have five Soldiers, so unleashing your air force is light work.
Faramir, Prince of Ithilien
Faramir is a semi-hug deck, less about giving your opponent things and more about making them decide what makes you more threatening. On each of your end steps, you pick one of your opponents. If they attack you, you get three 1/1 Soldiers on their end step, and if they don’t, you draw a card. Either way, you win; your opponent just gets to decide which boon to give you.
Darien, King of Kjeldor
Darien is a tough sell for me, but I’m sure he’s great with the right build-up. He gives you Soldiers whenever you’re dealt damage, but that seems a little dangerous for me. Sure, life is a resource, but that’s usually in Black. You’ll want to make sure you have a LOT of lifelink in this deck.
What do you think of these Commanders?
What is Magic the Gathering Commander?
For the uninitiated, Commander is a semi-casual format for Magic: the Gathering. You use a deck of 100 cards led by a legendary creature, aka, your Commander.
Aside from basic lands, you are only allowed one copy of each card in the deck. Moreover, you can only include cards in your Commander’s “color identity” or artifacts. Each color and color combo has a unique playstyle and a wealth of mighty generals to lead your deck to victory. EDHRec.com is an excellent source for Commander info and can give you ideas on how to build your next Commander deck or tune an existing one.
