The Commander
Whenever Carth enters or a planeswalker you control dies, look at the top seven cards of your library. You may reveal a planeswalker card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Planeswalkers' loyalty abilities you activate cost an additional [+1] to activate.
Guide
Gameplan
Carth turns planeswalkers into a value engine: he tutors planeswalkers from the top seven on ETB and on every superfriend's death, and he pumps every loyalty ability by +1 so your planeswalkers ult faster and stay safe. Deploy ramp early, drop Carth turn four, then chain planeswalkers each turn for card advantage and board control until you reach an ultimate or overwhelming value. The game plan is grind: out-card and out-board everyone, then close with a powered-up ultimate or an army of tokens.
Strengths
- Relentless card advantage that refills with every planeswalker cast or death
- The +1 to loyalty abilities makes ultimates trivially reachable and keeps walkers alive
- Deep, redundant tutoring smooths draws and finds answers or threats
- Plays a long grindy game few decks can match for raw value
- Recovers from board wipes by rebuilding planeswalker presence
Weaknesses
- Slow and clunky against fast combo or aggressive decks
- Planeswalkers are fragile to creature decks and direct removal
- Relies heavily on Carth himself—repeated commander removal hurts the engine
- Light on instant-speed interaction; vulnerable on opponents' turns
- Mana-hungry; needs lots of ramp to deploy multiple walkers per turn
Key Cards
- Doubling Season — Doubles loyalty so planeswalkers enter ready to ultimate immediately, busted with Carth's +1.
- The Chain Veil — Lets you activate each planeswalker multiple times per turn for explosive loyalty value and combo potential.
- Deploy the Gatewatch — Drops two planeswalkers from the top ten, perfectly synergizing with Carth's dig and superfriends shell.
- Oath of Teferi — Doubles planeswalker activations and gives flash-like deployment, multiplying Carth's engine.
- Vraska, Golgari Queen — On-color repeatable removal and sacrifice value whose death triggers Carth's tutor.
- Pir, Imaginative Rascal — Adds an extra loyalty counter to every ability, stacking with Carth's bonus for instant ultimates.
Upgrade Path
Add the strongest fast mana and ramp (Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, Three Visits, fetch-dual mana base) so you can deploy Carth plus a walker early and chain multiples per turn. Lean into combo finishers with The Chain Veil alongside cost reducers and loyalty doublers (Doubling Season, Pir) for explosive turns. Round out with cheap interaction and protection like Heroic Intervention, Assassin's Trophy, and Teferi's Protection to survive the slow early game while your engine assembles.
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
- ▸Game-ending planeswalker ultimates like Vraska or Liliana that lock out or kill opponents
- ▸The Chain Veil + planeswalker loops for infinite mana, draw, or board presence
- ▸Overwhelming with token armies from planeswalkers like Garruk or Vraska
- ▸Grinding opponents to empty hands and decks via relentless card advantage
Archetypes
- Superfriends — Carth is the premier BG planeswalker engine, tutoring and protecting a wide planeswalker board.
- Control — Planeswalkers provide repeatable removal, card draw, and board presence to grind opponents out.
- Combo — The Chain Veil plus loyalty doublers can generate infinite activations and mana with the right walkers.
- Tokens — Many planeswalkers make armies, and Carth keeps them flowing for a go-wide finish.
Combos
- Teferi, Temporal Archmage + The Chain Veil + Carth the Lion
→ Infinite card draw, Infinite colored mana, Infinite colorless mana
- Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion + Jace, Cunning Castaway + Carth the Lion
→ Infinite creature tokens, Infinite ETB, Infinite copies of a specific planeswalker
- Carth the Lion + Wrenn and Realmbreaker + Lotus Petal + The Chain Veil
→ Cast all permanent cards in your graveyard, Infinite colored mana, Infinite storm count
- Carth the Lion + Wrenn and Realmbreaker + Lotus Petal + Oath of Teferi
→ Cast all permanent cards in your graveyard, Infinite colored mana, Infinite storm count
- Carth the Lion + Liliana Vess + Nexus of Fate + Spark Double
→ Infinite turns, Skip your draw steps, Lock
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BG), by popularity.
