The Commander
Whenever Ryan attacks, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card. You may cast the exiled card without paying its mana cost if it's a spell with mana value less than or equal to Ryan's power. Put the exiled cards not cast this way on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Doctor's companion (You can have two commanders if the other is the Doctor.)
Guide
Gameplan
Pair Ryan Sinclair with a red-inclusive Doctor and turn combat into free spells: attack, exile until you hit a nonland card, and cast it for free if its mana value is at most Ryan's power. Pump and double-strike effects raise the cast ceiling while extra-combat and attack-trigger payoffs snowball your free value into a lethal board.
Strengths
- Generates free, repeatable card advantage every combat without paying mana
- Scales naturally with power-boosting and big-mana-value top-decks
- Doctor's companion gives you a guaranteed second commander to round out the deck
- Cheap three-mana body that comes online immediately
- Rewards a low-curve aggressive build that also wants high-impact spells
Weaknesses
- Whiffs into lands and small spells unless you build the deck around it
- Free casts are random and uncontrollable, so consistency suffers
- Relies on connecting in combat, vulnerable to removal and chump blockers
- Mono-red limits access to ramp, card draw, and interaction outside combat
- Casting bombs requires investing in power pumps, leaving you tempo-fragile
Key Cards
- The Tenth Doctor — Suspend-matters Doctor whose time-counter shenanigans give Ryan a strong, on-color partner with extra value.
- Embercleave — Cheaply pumps Ryan's power and grants double strike, raising your free-cast ceiling and pushing damage.
- Fireshrieker — Double strike means two attack triggers, doubling your free spells each combat.
- Aggravated Assault — Repeatable extra combats stack additional Ryan triggers for explosive free casting.
- Sword of Fire and Ice — Boosts power for bigger free casts while drawing cards and providing protection.
- Bloodthirster — Extra combats plus high base power create multiple high-ceiling Ryan triggers.
- Dragon Mantle — Cheap, repeatable firebreathing lets you spike Ryan's power exactly when you want a big free cast.
Upgrade Path
Tighten the curve so most nonland cards are castable at Ryan's power, then add reliable power-pumps and double strike (Embercleave, swords, Fireshrieker) to lift the ceiling. Layer in extra-combat enablers (Aggravated Assault, Combat Celebration) and protection like Lightning Greaves to keep attacks landing. Choose a Doctor partner that complements your strategy and add the best mono-red ramp (Jeska's Will, treasure makers) to deploy threats faster.
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 a pumped, double-striking Ryan or your Doctor
- ▸Snowballing free spells into an overwhelming board and burn finish
- ▸Chaining extra combats for repeated lethal free casts
- ▸Casting a giant impulsed bomb (e.g. a dragon or X-burn) for free to close the game
Archetypes
- Aggro/Voltron — Pumping Ryan to connect and survive maximizes both combat damage and free-cast value.
- Extra Combats — Each additional attack step retriggers Ryan for more impulsive free spells.
- Big-Spell Cascade-Style Value — Stacking the deck with high-impact red spells turns every attack into free haymakers.
- Spellslinger-Aggro — Cheap burn and instants/sorceries get cast for free and reward power scaling.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (R), by popularity.
