The Commander
Spirits you control get +1/+1 and have trample and haste.
Whenever another nontoken creature you control dies, exile it. If you do, create a token that's a copy of that creature, except it's a Spirit in addition to its other types and it has "When this token leaves the battlefield, return the exiled card to its owner's graveyard."
Guide
Gameplan
Hofri turns every creature death into immediate value by exiling the dier and returning a buffed Spirit copy with haste and trample. You sacrifice or blink your creatures with strong enter/leave-the-battlefield triggers, recurring them as bigger bodies and snowballing card advantage until you overwhelm the table. The deck wins through repeatable ETB value engines, aristocrats drains, or a wide haste-enabled board.
Strengths
- Built-in recursion that doubles as evasion and combat buff for the new tokens
- Excellent with ETB/death-trigger creatures, turning sacrifice into pure value
- Resilient to board wipes since dead creatures come back better
- Haste lets recurred threats attack immediately
Weaknesses
- Heavily commander-dependent; removing Hofri shuts off the engine
- Exile-based removal and graveyard hate bypass the recurrence entirely
- No card draw in the command zone outside the death loop itself
- Token copies leaving sends the real card to the graveyard, vulnerable to looping disruption
Key Cards
- Solemn Simulacrum — Ramps and draws on death, then comes back as a Spirit to do it all again.
- Ashnod's Altar — Free sacrifice outlet that fuels mana while triggering Hofri repeatedly.
- Reveillark — Returns small creatures and combos with sac outlets for engine loops.
- Karmic Guide — Reanimation plus a loop piece with Hofri and a sac outlet for infinite recursion.
- Sun Titan — Recurs permanents on attack and returns as a Spirit, generating massive value.
- Goblin Bombardment — Free sac outlet that turns the death engine into direct damage.
Upgrade Path
Add free sacrifice outlets (Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Goblin Bombardment) and payoff drains (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Bastion of Remembrance) to convert the engine into wins. Include reanimator loop pieces like Karmic Guide and Reveillark plus protection for Hofri such as Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots. Tighten the curve with strong ETB creatures and tutors like Imperial Recruiter and Recruiter of the Guard to assemble combos 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 effects looping creature deaths
- ▸Infinite ETB loops with Karmic Guide, Reveillark and a sac outlet
- ▸Beating down with buffed, hasty trampling Spirit copies
- ▸Overwhelming card and board advantage that outvalues the table
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Hofri rewards sacrificing creatures with copies, pairing perfectly with drain and sac outlets.
- Value Midrange — Recurring ETB creatures generates relentless incremental advantage.
- Combo — Karmic Guide/Reveillark plus a free sac outlet can loop for infinite ETBs or drains.
- Blink — Flickering creatures and re-triggering deaths combine for explosive engines.
Combos
- Hofri Ghostforge + Mistmoon Griffin + Goblin Bombardment
→ Infinite damage, Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB
- Hofri Ghostforge + Mistmoon Griffin + Ashnod's Altar
→ Infinite colorless mana, Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB
- Hofri Ghostforge + Mistmoon Griffin + Altar of Dementia
→ Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB, Infinite LTB
- Hofri Ghostforge + Mistmoon Griffin + Phyrexian Altar
→ Infinite colored mana, Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB
- Hofri Ghostforge + Moorland Rescuer + Goblin Bombardment
→ Infinite damage, Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (RW), by popularity.
