The Commander
Menace
At the beginning of your end step, put a bounty counter on target creature an opponent controls. For as long as that creature has a bounty counter on it, it has "When this creature dies, each opponent draws a card and gains 2 life."
Guide
Gameplan
Mathas is a Mardu political control deck that uses bounty counters to deter attacks and incentivize the table to remove your threats. You leverage the bounty mechanic by piling counters on key opponent creatures, then often killing them yourself to deny others the card draw and life, all while grinding the board with removal and value. The deck closes games through incremental damage, big haymakers, or punishing the table for the upkeep you've established.
Strengths
- Strong political leverage—opponents are discouraged from blocking or attacking bountied creatures
- Excellent color access to the best removal in Mardu colors
- Menace makes Mathas surprisingly evasive for commander damage
- Bounty counters synergize with proliferate and 'counters matter' payoffs
Weaknesses
- Bounty's card draw actively helps opponents if they kill the creature first
- Mathas himself provides no card advantage engine on his own
- Three-color manabase can be greedy and clunky
- Lacks a built-in win condition—needs strong support pieces
Key Cards
- Grave Pact — Forces sacrifices that turn your own removal and bountied creatures into a board-wiping engine.
- Dictate of Erebos — Doubles down on edict effects so you control who dies and reap the bounties yourself.
- Vindicate — Flexible removal that lets you kill bountied creatures on your terms before opponents benefit.
- Inkshield — Punishing fog that swings combat math and creates a board presence in a deck inviting attacks.
- Marchesa, the Black Rose — Turns dethrone and counters into a recursion engine that pairs with the deck's aggressive counter theme.
- Branching Bolt — Cheap, instant-speed removal to claim bounties yourself rather than let the table cash them.
Upgrade Path
Add more instant-speed removal so you can claim bounties yourself before opponents profit, and lean into sacrifice outlets like Viscera Seer and Ashnod's Altar to control timing. Strengthen the manabase with fetches, duals, and fast mana, and consider a focused finisher package (extra combats, Aetherflux Reservoir, or a reliable Voltron suite) since Mathas alone won't end games.
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
- ▸Grinding the board with removal and edicts until you can attack freely
- ▸Voltron-style commander damage off menace plus pump or equipment
- ▸Aristocrats sacrifice loops draining the table
- ▸Big midrange haymakers and extra-combat finishers
Archetypes
- Group Slug / Punisher — Bounty counters and Mardu's punishment effects pressure the whole table into bad decisions.
- Control — Mathas supports a removal-heavy deck that polices opponents' best creatures every turn.
- Aristocrats — Sacrifice and edict effects let you kill bountied creatures yourself to deny the payoff.
- Counters Matter — Proliferate and counter synergies turn the constant bounty counters into resources.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BRW), by popularity.
