“Casualties are inevitable. You can not make an omelet without breaking eggs.”
Art:Commander Mustard
by Jake Murray
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Commander Mustard is an absolute bomb of a commander for the soldier creature type. Due to the limited release and a ton of great options for soldier-focused commanders, Commander Mustard does not get nearly enough love from the community, this has been a pet deck of mine for a long time and is just an absolute blast to play, it feels like classic Boros gameplay and with a ton of creature/token production we can easily amass a true army and hit our opponents hard. From extra combats to protecting and buffing our creatures, this deck is as Boros as they come. All of these elements combine to make a very fun and effective combat deck. We are pretty lower power level on the grand scale of things as we don’t feature any infinite combos or loops, but we make up for it with the theme and generally being great in combat. This deck is a ton of fun, and I am excited to showcase it today. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
Click here to copy full decklist to your clipboard!
Commander Mustard Soldiers!
Buy This Deck!
Buy this deck using our TCGPlayer Affiliate Link: Commander Mustard Soldiers Brewed EDH:
Why Commander Mustard?
Commander Mustard is a little expensive at five mana, but when they hit the battlefield, their impact is immediately fault as giving all of our soldiers keyword soup and having a similar effect to Raid Bombardment
is a great asset in a deck that is extremely heavy on creatures and can go wide quite often. Commander Mustard is not something we attack or block with often but they are a great card to just have on the field since they make all of our soldiers, we usually have a decent board established by the time we can cast Commander Mustard so they are just a great compliment to the overall deck. Commander Mustard is a huge part of our deck, and while entirely necessary, we typically perform much better when they are on the field.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
Two of the best soldiers to have in the early game are both Ballyrush Banneret
and Daru Warchief
because they provide discounts on almost every creature in the deck, and they can help accelerate the gameplan a ton. Catapult Master
is a crazy piece of removal for the deck, we are easily able to activate it multiple times a turn, especially if we have been going hard with the token production which is greatly helped by Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation // Temple of Civilization
which is an additional copy of Anointed Procession
for the deck. Iroas, God of Victory
is not only an on-theme card for the deck but menace, and making our creature not take combat damage is crazy for only four mana and can allow us to be fearless with our attacks and take swings that will put a ton of additional pressure on our opponents. While we are certainly a decently aggressive deck, our opponents can get a little crazy if they start swinging a little too hard or commit to a finisher we can put a stop to it with Knight-Captain of Eos
which is a very cheap way to Fog
almost every turn. One of the best things about our soldiers is how they all buff each other, making us better and better in combat as the game goes on; some of my favorites are Valiant Veteran
and Veteran Swordsmith
.
Planeswalkers:
Our Planeswalkers are all decently focused; they focus entirely on creating more and more soldiers, while they have some other abilities that are pretty awesome, but we mostly use these to make more and more soldiers. Basri Ket
is one of my favorite in the deck because when we minus them, we can make an absolute ton of creatures, and with our commander and all of our other buffs, these are often 2/2’s or 3/3’s with keyword soup which makes an absolute menace in combat. Basri can come down early and all of their abilities are extremely impactful and just great for the deck. Elspeth, Sun's Champion
, has a very interesting position within the deck, not only do they give us some very strong token production they also provide a decent board wipe for some of the bigger creatures, if we haven’t drawn good and don’t have a great board established having this option is great and can help us get out of a hole. A little cheaper and a little different we have Archangel Elspeth
, while she is a decent token producer I love her ult, it is really not that hard to do only requiring two turns and a large majority of our soldiers in the deck can be recurred this way, this card is a perfect follow-up to a board wipe from an opponent.
Instants:
If one of our opponents starts going crazy in combat, one of my favorite cards to use is Take the Bait
, preventing combat damage when an opponent comes in with a crazy attack is always great, but since we goad them, it feels even better to redirect that huge attack to another player, this card is great and in my opinion pretty underrated and is a great way to cause a little chaos at the table. Since we typically have a pretty strong board that is decently full, we are normally pretty susceptible to board wipes, which is why we are bringing And They Shall Know No Fear
to the table. This card is great both offensively and defensively and can be great in unexpected situations if our opponent has a combat trick or some other way to influence combat. Another card that is crazy if an opponent has a full board is Call the Coppercoats
. Whether we use it for a huge attack on our turn or just for some chump blockers, this card is a great piece of utility for us. We are quite light on removal but do have Swords to Plowshares
and Unified Strike
, which are both very cheap ways to take out the best and the best our opponents have.
Sorceries:
We have an extremely simple sorcery package, but we do have some really awesome; one of my favorites is Martial Coup
; this card is amazing against other creature decks and really shines when we fall behind. A board wipe that gets better as we get farther ahead is Everything Comes to Dust
; since we can easily convoke this with all of our creatures, we can exile our opponents entire board or nearly their entire board for very little effort, this is a card I often use to clear the way before I go into a huge combat situation. Finale of Glory
is a great card that produces great creatures that are amazing at attacking and blocking especially when we give them buffs and keyword soup courtesy of our commander. In the late-game, I found that we can often produce 4/4 angels, which is a great way to end the game against other creature decks, and having more and more blockers and attackers is always nice.
Artifacts:
While a lot of our artifact package is mana rocks, our non-mana rocks are extremely impactful, Coat of Arms
is a card I almost always hold onto until we are about to go off and win, this is especially true if we are playing other decks that focus on creature types, but either way the insane buff we get for only five mana is absolutely game-warping. Vanquisher's Banner
is another great card, while it only provides a small buff all of the value from it comes in the supplemental card draw, drawing cards is quite tough for Boros to do so having it attached to something we do quite commonly is amazing, this is one of the best sources of card draw we have in the deck and it is certainly a key card. Herald's Horn
is pretty cool but certainly not the best card in the deck, the discount for all of our soldiers and being able to filter through our deck easier on our upkeep is pretty great for only three mana.
Enchantments:
Our enchantment package is full of a ton of absolute bombs, and the best of the best in my opinion, is Shared Animosity
, which is a great powerhouse of a card that allows us to hit like an absolute truck and even with only five or six soldiers we can easily kill an opponent. The buffs certainly don’t stop there since we have Gleam of Battle
and Glory of Warfare
are both amazing buffs; while a little expensive, the buffs they provide can influence combat a ton and allow us to put a ton of additional pressure on our opponents allowing us to be strong in combat both offensively and defensively. Another pair that goes crazy within the deck is In the Trenches
and Warleader's Call
, which on the surface both provide buffs for all of our creatures which is great, but having additional Impact Tremors
and an Oblivion Ring
effect attached to a buff for our creatures is truly an example of the best of both worlds.
Land Base:
Since we are entirely focused on the soldier creature type, we are naturally playing some lands that benefit us, like Unclaimed Territory
and Path of Ancestry
which are great ways to have extra lands that produce Boros colors and the scry from Path of Ancestry can be especially nice since we don’t have a ton of card draw and being able to put away a terrible draw is great. I also love both Slayers' Stronghold
and Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
, which are both inexpensive way to give our creatures keywords like Double Strike and in the case of Slayers Stronghold a buff and vigilance, this is perfect for pretty much any of our creatures but works very well with our evasive ones. Other than that, our landbase is pretty simple but quite effective; I like the speed we have present in our landbase through cards like Arid Mesa
and Sacred Foundry
. I like this landbase a lot and think it works very well with the deck.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We are very strong in combat and are quite hard to beat because of all the keywords our cards have, as well as the keywords Commander Mustard gives.
- We have a ton of token production allowing us to swing hard and block hard as needed.
- We have some quick ways to end the game with a full board like Moonshaker Cavalry
and Akroma's Will.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Until we get our commander or some of our bigger and better cards establish we have a lot of turns where we commit permanents to the board and don’t do a whole lot.
- We don’t have a lot of additional sources of card draw which can often leave us with empty hands.
- We are decently weak to control strategies, especially decks that limit the amount of creatures we can attack with, or just consistently board wipe us.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We are a combat deck in every way, pretty much our entire gameplan is filling up the board with soldiers and soldier tokens and using cards like Commander Mustard as well as Captain of the Watch
and Field Marshal
to make our soldiers bigger and better in combat. We have no shortage of big-swinging finishers once we have a big board established like Moonshaker Cavalry
and Aurelia, the Warleader
as very strong ways to finish off opponents. We can also easily finish off the game with cards like Shared Animosity which easily allows us to one-shot an opponent. If you love combat, then this is certainly the deck for you.
Conclusion:
While soldiers have a ton of amazing commanders and decks within the format, I feel like a lot of people overlook Commander Mustard, which is crazy to me because this card and deck are both an absolute blast to play. If you have a Commander Mustard list, I would love to see it; if you are thinking about brewing this commander, I certainly recommend it, as I have been having an absolute blast playing this one.