The Commander
Flying, trample
When Roalesk enters, put two +1/+1 counters on another target creature you control.
When Roalesk dies, proliferate, then proliferate again. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there. Then do it again.)
Guide
Gameplan
Roalesk is a Simic +1/+1 counters engine that doubles as a sacrifice payoff: drop him to load another creature, then sacrifice or trade him away to proliferate twice, snowballing your entire board of counters. You build a wide or tall counters board, chain proliferate triggers, and overwhelm with buffed evasive threats or counter-based combos.
Strengths
- Roalesk's death trigger proliferates twice, rewarding you for blocking, sacrificing, or recasting him repeatedly
- Native flying and trample make him a real evasive threat and counter-magnet himself
- Simic gives access to the best ramp, card draw, and counter synergies in the format
- Proliferate scales with planeswalkers, charge counters, and infect/poison plans, not just creatures
Weaknesses
- Loses value fast to board wipes since the strategy is creature-counter heavy
- Counters are vulnerable to removal that exiles or bounces the buffed creature
- Five mana for a commander whose best trigger requires him to die can feel slow
- No built-in card advantage—relies on support pieces to refuel
Key Cards
- Hardened Scales — Multiplies every +1/+1 counter you place, turning Roalesk's two counters and proliferate into massive value.
- Doubling Season — Doubles counters and tokens, making Roalesk's ETB and any token plan explode.
- Evolution Sage — Proliferates every landfall, stacking counters across your whole board without needing Roalesk to die.
- Inkmoth Nexus — With Roalesk's repeated proliferate, infect creatures can quickly push opponents to ten poison.
- Walking Ballista — A counter-based sink that proliferate fuels for repeatable removal or a finisher.
- Ezuri, Claw of Progress — Generates experience counters and pours +1/+1 counters onto creatures that proliferate then doubles.
Upgrade Path
Add counter doublers like Branching Evolution and Kalonian Hydra plus repeatable sac outlets (Viscera Seer, Phyrexian Altar) and reanimation (Eternal Witness, Volrath's Stronghold) to abuse Roalesk's death trigger every turn. Tighten the curve with efficient Simic ramp and card draw (Beast Whisperer, Inspiring Call), and pick a focused finisher—infect or Walking Ballista—rather than splitting between plans. Protection like Heroic Intervention and counterspells keeps your snowballing board safe from wipes.
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
- ▸Going wide with proliferated +1/+1 counter creatures and swinging for lethal
- ▸Infect/poison kills accelerated by repeated proliferate
- ▸Walking Ballista or similar counter-sink machine-gunning the table
- ▸Ultimating planeswalkers fast via proliferate
Archetypes
- +1/+1 Counters — Roalesk seeds counters on ETB and proliferates twice on death, anchoring a Simic counters midrange shell.
- Infect/Poison — Double proliferate accelerates poison counters, letting infect creatures kill far ahead of schedule.
- Aristocrats — Sacrifice outlets let you reuse Roalesk's death proliferate trigger on demand for value.
- Superfriends — Proliferate ticks up planeswalker loyalty, supporting a counter-themed planeswalker control build.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (GU), by popularity.
