DimirLegendary Creature — Human KnightGarland, Royal Kidnapper
Mana value4Rank#13,692
The Commander
When Garland enters, target opponent becomes the monarch.
Whenever an opponent becomes the monarch, gain control of target creature that player controls for as long as they're the monarch.
Creatures you control but don't own get +2/+2 and can't be sacrificed.
Guide
Gameplan
Garland turns the monarchy into a theft engine: drop him, hand an opponent the crown, and immediately seize their best creature for as long as they wear it. Repeatedly blink or reanimate Garland (and stack other steal effects) to peel off the best threats on the board, buff them all with the static +2/+2, and swing in with a borrowed army while you durdle as a tempo-control deck.
Strengths
- Steals opponents' best creatures for free, swinging board states by two cards at once
- Static +2/+2 and 'can't be sacrificed' makes stolen creatures bigger and immune to edicts and your own sac outlets
- Blink/flicker loops with Garland produce a fresh steal every time he re-enters
- Reaps political leverage and combat reach by pushing the monarchy around the table
Weaknesses
- Gives an opponent the monarchy and its end-step card draw, fueling whoever you target
- Board wipes are devastating since wraths kill the creatures you stole (you don't own them)
- Removing or bouncing Garland returns every borrowed creature at once
- No inherent way to retake the crown without combat or extra effects, so steals can stall
- Color pair lacks efficient mass removal to recover from a flooded board
Key Cards
- Eldrazi Displacer — Repeatable, untap-window blink of Garland steals a new creature every turn for just colorless mana.
- Brago, King Eternal — On combat damage it flickers Garland, re-triggering the monarch hand-off and grabbing another threat each turn.
- Ephemerate — Cheap, rebounding flicker that nets two extra steals across consecutive turns and dodges removal on Garland.
- Conjurer's Closet — Free end-step blink of Garland for a guaranteed extra steal each turn cycle.
- Gilded Drake — Bonus permanent theft that pairs with the +2/+2 buff and is hard for opponents to undo.
- Marchesa, the Black Rose — Loves a creature-theft, monarch-flavored board and recurs your borrowed bombs with dethrone counters.
- Sword of Hearth and Home — Connects to blink Garland for an extra steal while ramping and protecting your attacker.
- Cyclonic Rift — Resets opponents' boards while your buffed borrowed creatures stay; your premier control finisher.
Upgrade Path
Lean hardest into cheap, repeatable blink (Eldrazi Displacer, Ephemerate, Conjurer's Closet, Brago) so every turn delivers a new steal, and add high-impact one-shot theft like Bribery, Agent of Treachery, and Control Magic. Pack proactive protection for Garland (Swiftfoot Boots, counterspells) since losing him hands everything back, and run asymmetric resets like Cyclonic Rift to capitalize on your borrowed board. Tighten the mana with fast rocks and fixing so you can flicker and steal a turn ahead of the table.
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 a buffed army of stolen creatures the table can't profitably block
- ▸Assembling a blink loop that strips every opponent of their best creatures, then closing with the borrowed board
- ▸Stealing key combo pieces or finishers and turning them against their owners
- ▸Grinding out control with Cyclonic Rift plus permanent theft until you simply have more board than everyone
Archetypes
- Theft / Control — Garland's core loop converts the monarchy into repeated, permanent creature theft to dismantle opponents.
- Blink — Flickering Garland re-triggers the monarch hand-off, generating a new steal each cycle.
- Aristocrats (anti-sac twist) — The 'can't be sacrificed' clause protects your stolen creatures while you run your own fodder for value engines.
- Monarch Tempo — Manipulating who holds the crown both fuels Garland and lets you reclaim it via evasive combat.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BU), by popularity.
