BantLegendary Creature — Human SoldierAlistair, the Brigadier
Mana value4Rank#11,695
The Commander
Whenever you cast a historic spell, create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
Whenever Alistair attacks, you may pay 
. If you do, creatures you control get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of historic permanents you control.
Guide
Gameplan
Build a wide board by casting historic spells (artifacts, legendaries, Sagas) to spam 1/1 Soldier tokens, then convert that go-wide army into a lethal swing with Alistair's overrun-style attack trigger. You ramp into a dense legendary/artifact shell early, snowball tokens through the midgame, and close by pumping the whole team based on your historic permanent count.
Strengths
- Generates a steady stream of tokens just by playing the artifacts and legendaries a good deck wants anyway
- Bant access to ramp, card draw, protection, and the best historic permanents in the game
- Built-in win condition via the +X/+X attack trigger that doesn't require extra combo pieces
- Synergizes with both artifact and legendary themes, giving deep deckbuilding flexibility
Weaknesses
- The attack tax is steep and slow without serious ramp or cost reduction
- Token strategy folds to board wipes and sweepers, costing you both bodies and tempo
- Alistair himself is a 4-mana commander that contributes little until you build around him
- Vulnerable to fliers and pillow-fort defenders that blank a ground-based go-wide plan
Key Cards
- Esika's Chariot — A historic artifact that makes tokens, copies your best token, and crews itself into a beater.
- Cathars' Crusade — Each token you make pumps the whole team, compounding insanely with Alistair's token spam.
- Smothering Tithe — Generates the heavy mana you need to reliably pay the attack trigger.
- Anointed Procession — Doubles every Soldier token, dramatically widening the board and the +X/+X count.
- Intangible Virtue — Anthems your token army for cheap and turns 1/1s into real threats before the overrun.
- Heroic Intervention — Protects your wide board from the sweepers that would otherwise blow you out.
Upgrade Path
Prioritize ramp and cost reduction (Smothering Tithe, treasures, mana rocks) so the attack trigger comes online consistently, and add token doublers like Anointed Procession and Parallel Lives. Lean into anthem effects and protection spells to survive wraths, and consider an Aristocrats subtheme with Blood Artist and a free sacrifice outlet as a backup win. Tighten the historic count with efficient legendaries and artifacts that double as utility, and add overrun redundancy like Craterhoof Behemoth or Overwhelming Stampede for closing power.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Pay on Alistair's attack to give your token swarm a massive +X/+X overrun for lethal combat damage
- ▸Anthem and doubler stacking turns 1/1 Soldiers into a board that wins through sheer numbers
- ▸Aristocrats drain via Blood Artist effects and sacrifice fodder
- ▸Going tall on a single huge token with Cathars' Crusade plus trample enablers
Archetypes
- Tokens — Every historic spell makes a Soldier, so the deck naturally goes wide and rewards token doublers and anthems.
- Artifacts — Artifacts are historic, so artifact ramp, equipment, and stax pieces all trigger Alistair while advancing your plan.
- Aristocrats — A constant token supply fuels sacrifice outlets, blood artists, and drain engines as an alternate kill.
- Legends Matter — Legendary creatures, planeswalkers, and Sagas all count as historic and boost your attack-trigger payoff.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (GUW), by popularity.
