The Commander
Old Man Willow's power and toughness are each equal to the number of lands you control.
Whenever Old Man Willow attacks, you may sacrifice another creature or a token. When you do, target creature an opponent controls gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Guide
Gameplan
Old Man Willow is a lands-matter beater whose body grows with your land count while doubling as a repeatable removal engine. Ramp aggressively and flood the board with expendable creatures or tokens, then attack each turn to sacrifice fodder and shrink or kill opposing creatures with -2/-2. You win by smashing in with a massive trampling Treefolk while grinding the board down with attrition.
Strengths
- Commander-based removal that pressures the board every combat without needing card investment
- Scales naturally with the ramp and land-fetching black/green wants to do anyway
- Pairs perfectly with token and aristocrats shells that always have fodder to sacrifice
- Cheap to cast at four mana and immediately threatening once you have 6+ lands
Weaknesses
- Power and toughness scale with lands, so board wipes and land destruction set you back hard
- The -2/-2 only triggers when it attacks, leaving you reactive against fast combo decks
- Relies on having sacrifice fodder available every turn to use the ability
- Vulnerable to fliers and evasive threats since a ground Treefolk doesn't block well
- No built-in evasion or protection, so it gets chump-blocked or removed easily
Key Cards
- Crucible of Worlds — Recurs fetchlands and sacrificed lands to keep your land count and Willow's stats climbing.
- Bitterblossom — Generates an endless stream of token fodder to fuel the attack-trigger -2/-2 every turn.
- Rampant Growth — Cheap ramp that directly boosts Old Man Willow's power and toughness while accelerating you.
- Dryad Arbor — A creature-land that counts toward your land total and can itself be sacrificed to the attack trigger.
- Skullclamp — Turns your sacrificed and dying token fodder into a relentless card-advantage engine.
- The Gitrog Monster — Pays off lands-matter while letting you sacrifice lands for cards and refuel the board.
Upgrade Path
Add more efficient ramp and fetchland recursion (Ramunap Excavator, Crucible of Worlds, Azusa, Lost but Seeking) to make Willow huge and reliable faster. Layer in free or cheap sacrifice outlets and aristocrats payoffs (Viscera Seer, Blood Artist, Pitiless Plunderer) so combat triggers and board state generate value and life loss. Top it off with evasion or protection like Lightning Greaves, Whispersilk Cloak, and trample enablers so your commander actually closes games once it's a 10/10.
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
- ▸Connect repeatedly with a giant trampling Old Man Willow swollen by your land count
- ▸Grind the table out with attrition by removing a creature every combat
- ▸Aristocrats payoffs like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat draining life from sacrifices
- ▸Overrun the board with token swarms backed by anthem or trample effects
Archetypes
- Lands / Landfall — Willow's size is literally your land count, rewarding ramp, fetches, and recursion like Crucible of Worlds.
- Aristocrats — The sacrifice-on-attack ability turns dying creatures into repeatable removal and value triggers.
- Tokens — Token generators provide infinite fodder for the -2/-2 trigger every combat.
- Stax / Control — Land-based ramp supports tax pieces and creature shrinking to grind opponents out of resources.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BG), by popularity.
