The Commander
Ward 
Other creatures you control have ward .
Whenever Storvald enters or attacks, choose one or both —
• Target creature has base power and toughness 7/7 until end of turn.
• Target creature has base power and toughness 1/1 until end of turn.
Guide
Gameplan
Storvald is a Bant value-beater that hands out ward to your whole board while pumping a creature to a base 7/7 or shrinking an enemy to 1/1 every time it enters or attacks. You play a sticky, hard-to-target army, use the 7/7 mode to turn cheap tokens and utility creatures into beaters, and use the 1/1 mode as repeatable pseudo-removal alongside fight spells and deathtouch pingers. Close games by swinging with a protected, oversized board.
Strengths
- Team-wide ward makes targeted removal and counterspells dramatically more expensive for opponents
- The 7/7/1/1 modes retrigger on every attack, giving free repeatable value without spending cards
- Setting base power/toughness ignores existing buffs, so the 1/1 mode neutralizes huge threats or sets up easy fights/blocks
- Bant gives access to the format's best ramp, card draw, and protection package
Weaknesses
- Seven mana means a slow start and a vulnerability to fast combo and aggro decks
- Base P/T effects only last until end of turn, so the shrink/pump value is fleeting
- Ward protects against targeting but does nothing against board wipes and edicts
- No built-in evasion or inevitability—can stall against go-wide or controlling tables
Key Cards
- Birgi, God of Storytelling — Not on color—ignore; instead lean on cheap creatures to receive the 7/7 buff and benefit from ward.
- Cultivate — Reliable green ramp to deploy Storvald ahead of schedule and rebuild after wipes.
- Cryptolith Rite — Turns your protected token army into a mana engine for explosive Bant value turns.
- Pathway Arrows — Cheap repeatable deathtouch-style pinger that pairs with the 1/1 mode to snipe big threats.
- Heroic Intervention — Backs up Storvald's ward with full indestructible/hexproof protection against the wraths he can't stop.
- Tatyova, Benthic Druid — Strong Bant draw engine that keeps the gas flowing behind a hard-to-remove board.
Upgrade Path
Prioritize cheaper ramp (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Three Visits) so Storvald lands by turn four or five, then add resilient threats and counter synergies that exploit the base 7/7 mode. Lean into the 1/1 mode as removal by including deathtouch pingers and fight spells, and round out with strong Bant card advantage (Esper Sentinel, Rhystic Study) and protection like Teferi's Protection to cover the board-wipe weakness ward leaves open.
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 board of ward-protected 7/7s and oversized tokens
- ▸Commander-damage Voltron kills using ward to deny removal
- ▸Grinding incremental advantage with shrink-based removal until opponents run dry
- ▸Going wide with tokens and an anthem or overrun effect
Archetypes
- Tokens — The 7/7 mode turns expendable token creatures into real threats while ward shields the whole swarm.
- +1/+1 Counters — Setting a base 7/7 and then stacking counters creates enormous, resilient creatures.
- Voltron — Team-wide ward makes a single buffed creature extremely hard to interact with for a commander-damage kill.
- Control — Repeatable 1/1 shrinking plus fight/ping effects acts as soft removal while ward protects your engines.
Combos
- Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl + Tree of Redemption + Near-Death Experience + Alchemist's Refuge
→ Win the game at the beginning of your next upkeep
- Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl + Tree of Redemption + Near-Death Experience + Emergence Zone
→ Win the game at the beginning of your next upkeep
- Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl + Evra, Halcyon Witness + Near-Death Experience + Leyline of Anticipation
→ Win the game at the beginning of your next upkeep
- Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl + Tree of Redemption + Near-Death Experience + Leyline of Anticipation
→ Win the game at the beginning of your next upkeep
- Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl + Evra, Halcyon Witness + Near-Death Experience + Emergence Zone
→ Win the game at the beginning of your next upkeep
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (GUW), by popularity.
