The Commander
+2: During target player's next turn, each creature that player controls attacks if able.
−2: Rowan Kenrith deals 3 damage to each tapped creature target player controls.
−8: Target player gets an emblem with "Whenever you activate an ability that isn't a mana ability, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy."
Partner with Will Kenrith
Rowan Kenrith can be your commander.
Guide
Gameplan
Rowan is a mono-red planeswalker commander who controls combat and punishes attackers. Plus her up ability to force opponents into bad attacks or set up your own alpha strikes, use the -2 as repeatable creature removal/board control, and grind toward the -8 emblem that doubles your activated abilities. You protect Rowan with aggressive creatures and group-slug damage while leaning on red staples to close games.
Strengths
- Repeatable removal via -2 that sweeps tapped creatures, great against go-wide and aggro boards
- Combat manipulation forces opponents to attack each other or into bad blocks, slowing the table
- Game-ending -8 emblem that copies every nonmana activated ability you control
- Loyalty starts high (mana value 6 means she enters and can plus immediately to 7) making her sticky
Weaknesses
- Mono-red has weak card advantage and limited interaction outside of damage
- Planeswalkers are vulnerable to being attacked down before abilities matter
- No inherent ramp or recursion, so red's reach is capped
- Forcing opponents to attack can backfire and pad your own board's threats only situationally
Key Cards
- Will Kenrith — Her partner adds blue for card draw, counterspells, and cost reduction to shore up red's gaps if you go two-color.
- Disrupt Decorum — Goads every opponent's creatures to amplify Rowan's forced-attack plan into a politics blowout.
- The Doubling Season effect cards — Doubling Season makes Rowan enter with extra loyalty so you can fire -8 far sooner.
- Doubling Cube — With the emblem out, doubling activated abilities snowballs into explosive mana and combo turns.
- Comet, Stellar Pup — A red planeswalker whose dice-roll activated abilities get copied by Rowan's emblem for absurd value.
Upgrade Path
Pair her with Will Kenrith to splash blue for card advantage and counterspells, dramatically improving consistency over mono-red. Add loyalty doublers like Doubling Season and The Chain Veil-style enablers to reach -8 faster and chain ability copies. Round out with fast mana (Sol Ring, Mana Crypt), planeswalker protection (Norn's Annex, ghostly defenders), and a clean activated-ability combo to convert the emblem into a reliable kill.
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
- ▸Activate the -8 emblem then loop copied activated abilities for infinite mana, damage, or tokens
- ▸Grind opponents down with repeatable -2 board sweeps while a few aggressive creatures finish
- ▸Force opponents to attack each other into oblivion, then clean up the weakened survivors
- ▸Voltron/aggro beatdown protected by combat-shaping abilities
Archetypes
- Superfriends — Rowan headlines a planeswalker-centric build that defends walkers and abuses loyalty doubling.
- Control — The -2 acts as repeatable removal while combat manipulation stalls the board.
- Combo — The -8 emblem copies activated abilities, enabling powerful loops with mana rocks and pingers.
- Group Slug/Politics — Forcing attacks and goad effects turn the table against itself while you punish tapped creatures.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (R), by popularity.
