BorosLegendary Artifact Creature — ToyArabella, Abandoned Doll
Mana value2Rank#2,266
The Commander
Whenever Arabella attacks, it deals X damage to each opponent and you gain X life, where X is the number of creatures you control with power 2 or less.
Guide
Gameplan
Flood the board with cheap, low-power creatures and tokens, then swing with Arabella to drain every opponent for the number of 2-power-or-less bodies you control while gaining matching life. You build a wide army on turns 2-4, then convert it into direct damage that ignores blockers, often killing the table in a turn or two of attacks.
Strengths
- Damage scales fast and goes around blockers, so a single attack can hit all opponents for lethal
- Cheap to cast (MV2) and immediately impactful, easy to recast after removal
- Synergizes naturally with token and small-creature swarms that RW does well
- Life gain padding keeps you safe while you race
- Aristocrats and anthem effects both push the same shell
Weaknesses
- Relies on Arabella connecting in combat—evasion or protection is needed or she gets chump-blocked/killed
- Board wipes are devastating since the strategy is creature-count dependent
- Anthems that raise power above 2 can accidentally turn off your own creatures
- Commander tax and repeated removal slow the engine considerably
- Limited card advantage outside of going wide—can run out of gas
Key Cards
- Skullclamp — Turns your endless supply of 1-toughness tokens and small creatures into a card-draw engine.
- Impact Tremors — Each token entering pings opponents, stacking extra reach alongside Arabella's drain.
- Purphoros, God of the Forge — Doubles as damage payoff for going wide and a hard-to-kill enchantment body.
- Anointed Procession — Doubles your token output, directly multiplying Arabella's X.
- Goblin Bombardment — Sacrifice outlet that converts dying small creatures into reach and combos with aristocrats payoffs.
- Shadowspear — Grants trample and lifelink, ensuring Arabella's combat damage isn't fully blanked by blockers.
Upgrade Path
Prioritize efficient token generators (Krenko's Command, Hordeling Outburst, Dragon Fodder) and doublers (Anointed Procession, Mondrak) to spike X, plus protection like Swiftfoot Boots and combat enablers granting trample/evasion. Add aristocrats redundancy (Bastion of Remembrance, Zulaport-style effects) so your wide board still wins through wraths. Tighten the curve and include fast mana (Sol Ring, signets) so Arabella comes down early and rebuilds quickly after removal.
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
- ▸Arabella attacking for lethal drain across all opponents at once
- ▸Aristocrats pingers (Impact Tremors, Purphoros, Goblin Bombardment) burning the table out
- ▸Wide alpha strikes with anthems and evasion enablers
- ▸Incremental life-drain combined with overwhelming board presence
Archetypes
- Tokens — Wide boards of small tokens directly maximize Arabella's X for huge drains.
- Aristocrats — Cheap creatures dying for value pairs with sacrifice payoffs while keeping the count high.
- Go-Wide Aggro — Low-power one-drops both attack and fuel Arabella's drain for fast clocks.
- Combo — Token doublers plus aristocrats pingers create damage loops that close games outside combat.
Combos
- Arabella, Abandoned Doll + Storm Herd
→ Near-infinite damage, Near-infinite lifegain, Near-infinite ETB
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (RW), by popularity.
