The Commander
Eminence — Whenever you attack with one or more Knights, if Sidar Jabari is in the command zone or on the battlefield, draw a card, then discard a card.
Flying, first strike
Whenever Sidar Jabari deals combat damage to a player, return target Knight creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Guide
Gameplan
Build a wide, evasive Knights tribal army that grinds value through Sidar's eminence loot trigger every combat, then leverages his combat damage to recur your best Knights from the graveyard. You curve out cheap Knights, swing into the air with Sidar himself (flying, first strike), and snowball board presence while filling the yard for reanimation fuel.
Strengths
- Eminence works from the command zone, so you get card filtering every attack even before casting him
- Recurring Knights on combat damage turns removal and chump blocks into resource advantage
- Esper colors offer the format's best removal, board wipes, and tutors
- Loot effect fuels graveyard synergies and smooths draws all game
Weaknesses
- Tribal payoff is shallow—if Sidar dies repeatedly the deck loses focus and steam
- Loot is a draw-then-discard, not raw card advantage, so it can feel grindy
- Vulnerable to board wipes given the go-wide plan
- Sidar must connect for the reanimation trigger, which is easy to block or remove
Key Cards
- Knight Exemplar — Makes your Knights indestructible and pumps them, protecting the board from wraths and combat.
- Haakon, Stromgald Scourge — Lets you recast Knights from the graveyard repeatedly, abusing the loot discards as a resource engine.
- Stoneforge Mystic — A Knight that cheats equipment into play to make Sidar a faster, more lethal evasive threat.
- Reconnaissance — Lets your Knights attack to trigger eminence then pull back, dodging blockers and damage.
- Skullclamp — Turns expendable small Knights and tokens into a relentless card-draw engine.
Upgrade Path
Add efficient tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor) and protection like Swords to Plowshares and counterspells to keep Sidar alive. Lean into Haakon and recursion engines plus Skullclamp for raw card advantage beyond the loot, and improve the mana base with fast lands and Esper duals/fetches. For higher power, pivot toward a tighter aristocrats or reanimator package over pure tribal filler.
Core Cards
- Aryel, Knight of Windgrace
- Sunken Hollow
- Murderous Rider // Swift End
- Painful Truths
- Unbreakable Formation
- Time Wipe
- Ethersworn Adjudicator
- Knights of the Black Rose
- Conjurer's Mantle
- Port Town
- Wintermoor Commander
- Locthwain Lancer
Seeded from a single deck — rates appear once more public decks exist.
Win Conditions
Archetypes
- Knights Tribal Aggro — Sidar's eminence rewards attacking with Knights and his trigger rebuilds your board after combat.
- Reanimator — The loot fills the yard and combat damage returns Knights, so big Knight reanimation targets shine.
- Aristocrats — Recurring Knights pair with sacrifice outlets and death payoffs for repeatable value loops.
- Voltron — Flying first strike plus equipment can make Sidar a fast clock and consistent recursion engine.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BUW), by popularity.
