BorosLegendary Creature — Human SoldierGerrard, Weatherlight Hero
Mana value4Rank#10,798
The Commander
First strike
When Gerrard dies, exile it and return to the battlefield all artifact and creature cards in your graveyard that were put there from the battlefield this turn.
Guide
Gameplan
Gerrard is a Boros sacrifice/recursion engine: build a wide board of artifacts and creatures, then trigger a mass sacrifice in a single turn, let Gerrard die, and reanimate everything at once for a devastating swing. He rewards aristocrats payoffs and explosive token plays, turning a board wipe (yours or theirs) into a one-sided refuel.
Strengths
- Massive single-turn recursion that punishes board wipes and combat trades
- Built-in first strike makes him a respectable attacker and combat deterrent
- Pairs naturally with sacrifice outlets and aristocrats drain effects
- Cheap four-mana commander that recurs himself by exiling and returning
Weaknesses
- Recursion only catches cards that hit the graveyard from the battlefield this turn, so timing and an in-turn sac outlet are mandatory
- Boros lacks strong card draw and ramp compared to other color pairs
- If Gerrard dies before you've sacrificed your board, the trigger whiffs
- Reliant on sacrifice outlets; without one the ability is hard to enable on demand
Key Cards
- Goblin Bombardment — Free, repeatable sacrifice outlet that lets you dump your board the same turn Gerrard dies for the mass return.
- Ashnod's Altar — Sacrifice all your creatures for mana, then recur them via Gerrard for a huge tempo swing.
- Blasphemous Act — A cheap board wipe that, with a sac outlet for Gerrard, refuels only your side.
- Mathas, Fiend Seeker — Boros aristocrats payoff—drains opponents as your sacrificed army returns and re-enters.
- Pitiless Plunderer — Generates Treasure as creatures die, fueling the mass sacrifice and the explosive turn afterward.
- Sun Titan — Reusable recursion that gets back utility pieces and synergizes with Gerrard's reanimation theme.
Upgrade Path
Add more free sacrifice outlets (Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder) and aristocrat drains (Blood Artist, Bastion of Remembrance) so the mass return always converts to damage. Improve mana with fast rocks like Mana Crypt and Sol Ring plus Boros ritual support, and tighten the deck around a repeatable combo such as a sac outlet + Pitiless Plunderer + an ETB payoff. Tutors like Enlightened Tutor and Steelshaper's Gift help find your altars consistently.
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
- ▸Aristocrats drain via Blood Artist / Zulaport Cutthroat effects during the mass sacrifice and return
- ▸Overwhelming combat damage after refueling a massive board in one turn
- ▸Combo loops with sacrifice outlets, Treasure makers, and ETB drainers
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Sacrifice outlets plus death/ETB payoffs let Gerrard's mass return drain the table.
- Reanimator — His ability is essentially a one-shot mass reanimation that returns your whole board at once.
- Tokens / Go-Wide — A wide board sacrificed and returned maximizes ETB and dies triggers for explosive value.
- Artifacts — He returns artifact cards too, so artifact sac fodder and ETB artifacts amplify the payoff.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (RW), by popularity.
