The Commander
: Tor Wauki deals 2 damage to target attacking or blocking creature.
Guide
Gameplan
Tor Wauki is a slow, defensive deterrent: tap to snipe 2 damage at any attacking or blocking creature, discouraging combat against you while you assemble a real win in Rakdos colors. You stall the early game as a political pillow-fort piece, then pivot to a burn, aristocrats, or big-mana finish since the commander itself rarely closes games. Use untap effects and ping doublers to turn the limited combat-only ability into repeatable removal.
Strengths
- Deters attacks and punishes blockers, making you a low-priority target politically
- Repeatable, mana-free removal that pressures small creatures and X/2 utility threats
- Cheap to recur in a deck full of Rakdos reanimation if removed
- Pairs well with effects that untap him or care about damage dealt
Weaknesses
- Ability only works during combat against attackers/blockers — useless on defenseless creatures and at sorcery speed
- Just 2 damage with no built-in win condition; needs the 99 to actually close games
- Five mana for a glorified pinger is overcosted in modern Commander
- No card advantage, ramp, or evasion; easily ignored by go-wide or noncombat decks
- Vulnerable to removal and tap-down since the whole value engine is one creature
Key Cards
- Thornbite Staff — Untaps Tor Wauki whenever a creature dies, turning his ping into a repeatable machine-gun against combat.
- Magewright's Stone — Cheap repeatable untap so you can fire the ability multiple times per combat.
- Gisela, Blade of Goldnight — Doubles his damage to 4 per shot while halving incoming damage, supercharging the deterrent plan.
- Fiery Emancipation — Triples his damage output, making each ping a genuine removal spell.
- Aggravated Assault — Generates extra combats and, with mana, untaps your team while giving you more windows to ping attackers/blockers.
- Dictate of the Twins — Flash-in to surprise opponents into bad combats, then clean up their attackers with pings.
Upgrade Path
Lean into the untap package (Thornbite Staff, Magewright's Stone, Umbral Mantle) so the ability becomes repeatable removal, and add damage doublers like Fiery Emancipation and Gisela to make each shot lethal to real creatures. Since the commander won't win on its own, invest in a genuine finish — an Exsanguinate/Torment of Hailfire mana sink, an aristocrats drain core, or a reanimation bomb. Round out with strong Rakdos staples (removal, ramp like Arcane Signet/Dockside-style rocks, and card draw) so you're not relying on a five-mana pinger to carry the game.
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
- ▸Burn opponents out with Rakdos direct damage and X-spells like Exsanguinate or Comet Storm
- ▸Untap-loop pings (Thornbite Staff plus a sac outlet) to grind down boards then alpha strike
- ▸Aristocrats drain via Blood Artist effects and repeated sacrifices
- ▸Cheat out a large threat (Rakdos demons/dragons) once the table is stalled
Archetypes
- Pillow Fort / Control — His combat-only pinging deters attacks, letting you build a defensive shell and win slowly.
- Aristocrats — Death-trigger untappers like Thornbite Staff plus sacrifice loops weaponize his repeated damage and provide a real engine.
- Burn / Spellslinger — Rakdos direct-damage and X-spells give you the actual reach to finish that Tor Wauki lacks.
- Reanimator / Big Mana — Use the slow defensive game he buys to ramp into beefy bombs and reanimation finishers.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BR), by popularity.
