AzoriusLegendary Creature — Angel WizardLinvala, Shield of Sea Gate
Mana value3Rank#7,142
The Commander
Flying
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you have a full party, choose target nonland permanent an opponent controls. Until your next turn, it can't attack or block, and its activated abilities can't be activated.
Sacrifice Linvala: Choose hexproof or indestructible. Creatures you control gain that ability until end of turn.
Guide
Gameplan
Assemble a full party (Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, Wizard) to turn on Linvala's combat lockdown, neutralizing a key blocker, attacker, or activated-ability engine each turn while you grind value from your party-payoff creatures. You build a wide, evasive board protected by Linvala's sacrifice ability and close games through combat damage or assembled synergies. Early turns deploy cheap multi-class creatures, then snowball with party-care draw and tempo.
Strengths
- Repeatable, free disruption that shuts down a problem permanent every combat once party is online
- Built-in protection: sacrificing Linvala grants the whole team hexproof or indestructible to dodge a board wipe or targeted removal
- Azorius gives premier counterspells, board wipes, and tempo tools to back up the party plan
- Low mana value (3) makes her easy to recast and protect
Weaknesses
- The disruption ability is dead until you actually have a full party, which can be slow or fragile to assemble
- Heavily reliant on creatures of the right classes; targeted creature removal sets you back
- Lacks raw card advantage and ramp inherent to the colors—UW can stall out
- Linvala herself is small and dies to most spot removal before she generates value
Key Cards
- Tajuru Paragon — Counts as all four party classes by itself, making a full party trivial to assemble.
- Coppercoat Vanguard — Anthems your party creatures and gives them protection, reinforcing the go-wide plan.
- Acquisitions Expert — Refills your hand based on party size, one of the best card-advantage payoffs for the deck.
- Farfinder — A cheap Rogue/Warrior that fixes mana and helps fill out party requirements.
- Swords to Plowshares — Premium cheap removal to protect Linvala and clear blockers while you stabilize.
Upgrade Path
Add more all-class enablers like Tajuru Paragon and efficient multi-class creatures to turn on the party faster, and lean into anthems (Coppercoat Vanguard) plus card draw (Acquisitions Expert) for consistency. Round out with top-tier interaction—Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Cyclonic Rift—and protective equipment or a couple of cheap board wipes you can survive via Linvala's sacrifice. Prioritize ramp and fixing (signets, Arcane Signet) so you reliably curve into a full party by turn four.
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 an evasive, anthem-boosted party board
- ▸Locking key blockers/threats each combat while attackers connect
- ▸Protecting an alpha strike with the indestructible/hexproof sacrifice
- ▸Voltron damage on a flier backed by counterspell protection
Archetypes
- Party Tribal Aggro — Linvala rewards a curve of Cleric/Rogue/Warrior/Wizard creatures that attack into a disrupted board.
- Tempo Control — UW counters and the per-turn lockdown ability let you slow opponents while chipping in evasive damage.
- Voltron/Evasion — Linvala's flying plus protection sacrifice supports suiting up an evasive threat to win through combat.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (UW), by popularity.
