The Commander
Flying
Players can't cast spells during combat.
: Target creature attacks this turn if able.
Guide
Gameplan
Basandra is a Boros combat-control commander who forces creatures to attack while shutting off all instant-speed interaction during combat. You build a board (often goaded or pillow-forted) and weaponize forced attacks to grind opponents down, protect your alpha strikes from combat tricks and removal, and either swing big yourself or punish attackers with deterrents. She thrives in politics-heavy goad and combat-matters builds.
Strengths
- Shuts down all combat tricks, fogs, and instant-speed removal during combat, making your attacks far safer
- Forced-attack ability turns opponents' creatures into liabilities and breaks board stalls
- Flying body lets her contribute as a Voltron or evasive threat
- Excellent with deterrent effects (punisher cards) since forced attackers walk into them
Weaknesses
- Five mana and easily removed at sorcery speed before combat
- The cast-restriction is symmetric, hurting your own combat plays unless built around
- Red single-target forced-attack is mana-intensive to use repeatedly
- Boros lacks card advantage and ramp, leading to grindy resource starvation
- Vulnerable to noncombat-based opponents and fast combo decks
Key Cards
- Disrupt Decorum — Goads every opponent's board, weaponizing Basandra's forced-attack theme into a board wipe via combat.
- Crawlspace — Limits attackers back to you while you force opponents to swing at each other.
- Dolmen Gate — Lets your forced attackers swing in with no risk of dying in combat.
- Brutal Hordechief — Drains opponents on attack and gives you combat control, devastating with forced attacks.
- Bloodthirster — Repeatable extra combats stack with forced attacks and combat-damage payoffs.
- Gisela, Blade of Goldnight — Doubles your combat damage while halving incoming, a brutal anchor for a forced-attack plan.
Upgrade Path
Lean into the lock by adding more deterrents (No Mercy, Marchesa's Decree) and goad enablers so opponents kill each other while you stay safe. Improve Boros's weak spots with rocks (Arcane Signet, Boros Signet, Smothering Tithe) and card advantage (Esper Sentinel, Mentor of the Meek, impulse draw). Add extra-combat and damage-doubling payoffs (Aurelia, Combat Celebrant, Gisela) to convert forced attacks into lethal swings faster.
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
- ▸Beating down with an evasive, trick-proof board and extra combats
- ▸Forcing opponents to attack into punishers like Brutal Hordechief or Disrupt Decorum for incremental drain
- ▸Voltron kills with an equipped Basandra immune to combat interaction
- ▸Big creatures plus damage doublers like Gisela ending the table quickly
Archetypes
- Goad / Forced Combat — Basandra's R ability and combat lock turn opponents' creatures into weapons against each other.
- Pillow Fort / Punisher — Force attackers into deterrents and damage-punishers while combat-spell lock protects you.
- Voltron — Flying evasion plus immunity to combat tricks lets a suited-up Basandra connect reliably.
- Aggro / Combat Matters — The combat-spell lock makes alpha strikes and extra-combat plans far harder to disrupt.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (RW), by popularity.
