The Commander
Whenever you cast a nonlegendary creature spell with flying, you may copy it, except the copy is a 1/1 Spirit in addition to its other types. Do this only once each turn. (The copy becomes a token.)
Guide
Gameplan
Cast nonlegendary flying creatures to get a free 1/1 Spirit copy each turn, building a wide evasive board while doubling powerful enter-the-battlefield triggers. Flicker and reuse those bodies for value, then close with an alpha strike or an ETB-based combo.
Strengths
- Generates a free token every turn just by playing your normal flyers, snowballing board presence
- Doubles powerful flying-creature ETB effects (Mulldrifter, Cloudblazer, etc.) for huge value
- Evasive board of flyers is hard to block and pressures life totals quickly
- Mono-blue gives access to the best counterspells, card draw, and protection
Weaknesses
- The copy trigger only fires once per turn, limiting explosive turns without flash/flicker enablers
- Mono-blue struggles with board wipes and removal that hit your fragile token swarm
- Tokens are 1/1s that die to any sweeper, so you're vulnerable to Wrath effects
- Slow to close if the commander is repeatedly removed and you lack a backup wincon
Key Cards
- Mulldrifter — Copying it nets a flyer plus a duplicated draw-two ETB for serious card advantage.
- Cloudblazer — Donal copies it for an extra flying body and another draw-two, gain-life trigger.
- Brago, King Eternal — Wait—use flicker effects instead; flicker your flyers to retrigger Donal-style value and reset ETBs.
- Panharmonicon — Stacks with Donal so each copied ETB flyer triggers multiple times for runaway value.
- Spark Double — A flying-relevant clone, but more importantly copy effects synergize with reusing your best creatures.
- Cavern of Souls — Protects your key creature spells from counterspells so the copy trigger reliably resolves.
Upgrade Path
Add flash and flicker enablers (Vedalken Orrery, Conjurer's Closet, Ghostly Flicker) so you can retrigger Donal and ETB flyers more than once per turn. Lean into payoffs like Panharmonicon and anthems (Favorable Winds, Intangible Virtue) to turn the token swarm lethal, and tighten the mana base with fast lands and protection like Cavern of Souls and Heroic Intervention-style blue counters to keep your engine online against wipes.
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
- ▸Alpha strike with a wide board of evasive flyers, often pumped by anthems or overrun-style effects
- ▸Repeatedly copying value ETB flyers to out-card the table, then grinding out with evasion
- ▸Aetherflux Reservoir or similar payoff from doubled lifegain/ETB triggers
- ▸Combat finishers like Coastal Piracy/Bident of Thassa converting flyer damage into overwhelming card advantage
Archetypes
- Flyers Tribal — Donal rewards filling the deck with nonlegendary flying creatures for constant free Spirit tokens.
- Blink/Value — Flicker effects retrigger flyer ETBs and Donal's copy timing for repeatable advantage.
- Tokens/Go-Wide — Each turn adds an evasive body, building a wide aerial swarm for anthem-fueled finishes.
- Clone/Copy — Donal turns copy spells and value flyers into a duplication engine that snowballs the board.
Combos
- Donal, Herald of Wings + Cloudstone Curio + Peregrine Drake
→ Infinite creature tokens, Infinite ETB, Infinite LTB
- Donal, Herald of Wings + Cloudstone Curio + Palinchron
→ Infinite creature tokens, Infinite ETB, Infinite LTB
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (U), by popularity.
