Magic: The Gathering – The 10 Best Cards For A Warrior Typal Commander Deck

There are nearly 300 creature types in Magic: The Gathering, ranging from the pretty obscure Trilobites to the ever-present Humans and Elves we see in just about every set. Magic also has a hidden 'class system,' whereby types like Rogue, Advisor, or Wizard get tacked onto a creature's species. That makes for quite the number of creature type combinations!

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Among these classes are several 'fighter-style' types that represent the brute-force aggressors in Magic. This encompasses everything from Soldiers to Berserkers, though Warriors outclass them all by sheer number alone. Warriors have even been a focal point of different sets, like Battlebond, Zendikar Rising, and Khans of Tarkir.

10 Obsidian Battle-Axe And Relic Axe

Every Warrior Needs A Weapon

There are a couple pieces of equipment in Magic geared specifically towards Warriors, chief among them being Obsidian Battle-Axe and its modernized counterpart, Relic Axe. The latter has a cost advantage, with both a cheaper mana value and equip cost, but it only ever auto-equips once, whereas the Battle-Axe can attach to new Warriors entering play.

Battle-Axe is also a Kindred Warrior equipment, which means it interacts with typal payoffs like Brighthearth Banneret and Mardu Woe-Reaper. Those are niche interactions, but it just demonstrates that both these equipment have points in their favor. In fact, why not run both?

The sequencing is different on these two equipment: Play Battle-Axe before and Relic Axe after the creature you want equipped.

9 Blood-Chin Fanatic

A Pre-Commander Design

It's a little mana-intensive, but Blood-Chin Fanatic presents a decent way to finish an opponent off once they've stabilized the board against your attackers. Warriors tend to be small, so this is more chip damage than anything, but all your pump effects are accounted for here.

Fanatic was printed before the Commander boom era of Magic design, so it only targets a single player. That means it's less of a wincon, and more likely to help you finish off a single opponent, or at least get some value out of your creatures in response to a board wipe.

8 Mardu Woe-Reaper

Several Incidental Bonuses All Rolled Together

Woe-Reaper is a classic Warrior payoff; nothing too spectacular, but Warrior decks are thrilled to have a play on turn one, and incidental graveyard hate and lifegain is always welcome. For all its text, it's a fairly straightforward card.

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The typical one-mana 2/1 isn't as big of a threat in Commander as it is in some Constructed formats, but cheap spells like this make it much easier to empty your hand and flood the board with creatures. Your most aggressive starts involve turn-one plays not named Sol Ring, which makes Woe-Reaper a solid addition to combat-focused decks.

7 Lovisa Coldeyes

Lord Of Aggressive Creature Types

Lovisa Coldeyes has a storied history in Magic. She was originally printed with the 'Human Lord' types before Lord was dropped from the game, after which she was updated to a 'Human Barbarian.' However, her ability was adjusted to affect other creatures, so she wouldn't get her own bonus.

The currently updated version of Lovisa is just a Human that pumps some other creature types, most notably Warriors. +2/+2 is a large boost, and haste is always a nice addition. Sure, you're playing a five-mana 3/3, but Lovisa's probably netting upwards of 10 or more power across your board.

6 Arashin Foremost

Strike Fast, Strike Twice

Arashin Foremost is perhaps the quintessential Warrior, insofar as the card only cares about aggression and just wants to be turned sideways as much as possible. A 2/2 with double-strike can play defense, but something's probably going poorly if that's the position you're in.

Naturally, Arashin Foremost is a Warrior that plays at its best with other Warriors, since it bestows double-strike onto another Warrior that rides into combat alongside it. It's a bit of a stretch to say that's like taking an extra combat every turn, but it's also not that far off from the truth.

5 Raiders' Spoils

Small Power Bump, Big Card Draw Potential

+1/+0 is significantly below the bar for a four-mana anthem effect, but the opportunity for some mass card draw makes up for that. Raiders' Spoils is at its best with evasive Warriors that can sidestep blockers, but the small power bump could be just enough to dissaude blockers anyway.

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Note that the +1/+0 ability affects all your creatures, not just Warriors. The second ability is Warrior-specific, but it triggers for each Warrior that connects in combat, and the draw ability is completely optional, so you can opt out if you're low on life or close to milling out.

4 The Party Legends

Who Needs A Full Party When You've Got Swords?

The party mechanic cares about four different creature types: Clerics, Warriors, Wizards, and Rogues. While many party cards incentivize you to have a 'full party' (at least one of each type), some payoffs work generically with any of the individual party types.

For example, you could run Nalia de'Arnise or Burakos, Party Leader in a deck with nothing but Warriors. You won't be maximizing those cards' potential, but you'll still get to play Warriors off the top with Nalia, or make a couple Treasure tokens when Burakos attacks.

3 Mindblade Render

Linguistic Hoops For A Simple Payoff

You'll have to excuse the convoluted text on Mindblade Render; it was designed to work in Two-Headed Giant matches, where your partner's Warriors that connect in combat would trigger this ability. In a typical Commander game, this reads more like: 'Deal damage with some Warriors, draw a card.'

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Interestingly, you'll draw cards if an opponent's Warrior deals combat damage to another one of your opponents. It also plays exceptionally well with double-striking Warriors, and it even counts itself if you can somehow slip this 1/3 past an opponent's blockers.

2 Secure The Wastes

An Army In An Instant

Think of Secure the Wastes as a white Fireball. It lets you dump all of your mana into an X-spell that ostensibly converts all that mana into damage. It can't hit the opponent directly like an actual Fireball can, but the Warrior tokens can attack multiple times, so it might even deal more damage over time than a traditional Fireball.

It's also an instant, so there's some mid-combat ambush potential. Secure the Wastes can produce a bunch of unexpected blockers out of nowhere, ones that reap the benefits of any Warrior-specific payoffs you might have lying around.

You might be interested in a pumped up version of this card, Grand Crescendo, though that spell makes Citizens instead of Warriors.

1 Najeela, the Blade-Blossom

Five-Color Warriors, Anyone?

Najeela's well-known in competitive circles for its ability to generate infinite combats with the help of a few mana dorks, but fair Najeela's also a totally serviceable threat, spitting out extra Warriors as you attack with the ones you already control.

The awkward part is Najeela's activated ability, which makes it a five-color card for the purposes of Commander color identity. That means Najeela will either have to be the commander, or under the service of another five-color legend that cares about Warriors, like Tazri, Beacon of Unity or Morophon, the Boundless.

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