Commanderis the most popular way to playMagic: The Gathering, so it makes sense that there are mechanics in the game that only work in multiplayer scenarios. Goad debuted as one such mechanic in 2016’s Conspiracy: Take the Crown, and has been forcing action in Commander ever since.
What started off as a simple Limited mechanic has now exploded into a fully fleshed out ability you can build entire 100-card decks around. Goad support comes out in just about every supplementary product now, and it’s a great way to verify Commander games come to a timely conclusion, sometimes without the need to ever get your own hands dirty.
10Alela, Cunning Conqueror
Instant-Speed Trickery
Alela’s narrow, but it’s also just chaotic fun in the decks that support it, namelyFaerie decksor ones built around instant-speed interaction. You’re incentivized to load your deck up with cheap plays you can make on your opponents' turns, each of which will net a 1/1 flying Faerie token.
These Faeries can then slip by in combat and goad your opponents' creatures. That means your opponents' best threats won’t be coming your way, which gives you more breathing room to cast spells that don’t typically affect the board, which in turn begets more Faerie tokens.
9Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
A Contentious Goblin Commander
The play patterns on Grenzo are somewhat unintuitive. You want to hit your opponents to goad their creatures, but if they have creatures worth goading, how are you getting through in the first place? That’s the tricky part fora mono-red deck, but it’s a puzzle worth solving.
Maybe you have your eyes on Grenzo’s card draw ability instead, but the challenge of connecting in combat still stands. Goblin decks usually go wide enough to simply slam more creatures through than your opponents can block, butGoblin Commander decksalmost always put Krenko, Mob Boss in charge.
8The Rani
Goading In Unfamiliar Territory
The Rani is an overall strange design for a card, from making a specifically-named aura token to its blue-black-red color identity, a combination that’s not well-known for aggression or attacking. Well, The Rani isn’t really the one attacking, but it definitely promotes violence.
The payoff’s a little worse than some other goad commanders, since making aClue tokenis weaker on average than just drawing cards. However, it might actually be an advantage if you’re able to play into the heavy artifact synergies present in this color pair.
7Baeloth Barrityl, Entertainer
Get In There, Little Ones!
Not to be confused with Magic’s Baloths, thisDungeons & Dragonscharacter does a lot to set itself apart from the competition. It’s one of Magic’s only mono-redElf creatures, andthe Background abilitylets you customize the way you can build your deck. Best to pair it with a Background that increases its power.
‘Entertainer’ feels like an appropriate title, assuming of course that you find small creatures marching off to their deaths in glorious combat entertaining. It’s a great way to help pick off utility creatures, which tend to have small stat-lines and usually avoid combat altogether.
6Firkraag, Cunning Instigator
Just Missing The Dungeons
Befitting of the first Dungeons & Dragons crossover set to have an entireCommander preconbuilt aroundDragons. The trick there, though, is making the deck feel distinct from the myriad other Dragon decks that already exist in Magic, especially Commander 2017’s Draconic Domination precon.
Firkraag certainly feels distinct enough. It does all the usual shenanigans of drawing cards and becoming a massive threat as your opponents attack into one another, but tying those abilities into a Dragon-themed shell makes this commander feel wholly unique and interesting to build around.
5Karazikar, The Eye Tyrant
Quite The Looker
Karazikar has violence on the mind… er, eyes.Appropriate for a Beholder. It has a pretty standard design for a political Commander card, incentivizing opponents to brawl with each other for card draw instead of looking in your direction. Card draw is quite the motivator in Commander.
If your opponents need a bit of persuasion, you’re able to always make an attack yourself and goad a creature you want to lure into combat. Even better, Karazikar taps that creature down for the turn so it can’t just callously block and avoid attacking.
Karazikar triggers whenyouattack, which means it doesn’t actually have to be the creature attacking. You can cast Karazikar and attack with something else to get a goad trigger right away.
4Kitt Kanto, Mayhem Diva
Good Old Fashioned Cat Fights
TheStreets of New CapennaCommander decks featured alternative commanders with abilities that could benefit your opponents if you chose to do so. Not quiteall-in group hug commanders, but they definitely had that feel to them.
You can be greedy with Kitt Kanto, using it to pump up one of your big attackers each combat, or you could give +2/+2 to an opponent’s creature on their turn and goad it. The Mayhem Diva’s excellent at making sure the game progresses and damage is being dealt, whether your opponents want the ‘help’ or not.
3Laurine, The Diversion
(Ft. Kamber)
Laurine is only half of apartner pairingfocused on creating artifacts and sacrificing them to force your opponents' creatures into combat. Laurine’s a solid combatant even without the extra sacrifice text, since a 3/3 first-striker holds its own in combat pretty well, on offense and defense.
Of course, they don’t call her ‘The Diversion’ for no reason. Laurine’s there to keep opposing threats off your back while Kamber generates Blood tokens. Those tokens can be fed to Laurine’s sacrifice ability, or you can use them as intended and just shape up your hand instead.
2Marisi, Breaker Of The Coil
Also Breaks Faces
Marisi was one of the first mass-goading legends in the format, released as the alternate commander in Commander 2019’s Primal Genesis precon. It wasn’t nearly as popular as the face commander, Ghired, Conclave Exile, but it’s still strong in decks built to capitalize on its abilities.
Marisi requires that your creatures connect in combat, so you’ll have to support them with unblockable-granting effects, or bias towards evasive creatures with trample,flying, etc. The reward is goading opponents' entire boards, which keeps you safe from their attacks. Bonus points for shutting off your opponents' ability to interact effectively in combat.
1Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser
Good Use Of The Pointer Finger
Nelly mixes the goad mechanic withMurders at Karlov Manor’s suspected mechanic. ‘Suspecting’ a creature gives it menace and makes it permanently unable to block, a combination of abilities that roughly translates to: “Players will be taking damage.” Goading suspected creatures is a perfect combination of effects.
Of course, Nelly’s not all belligerence all the time. It shares card draw with your opponents as they smash into one another, though one might argue rewarding someone for something you forced them to do isn’t exactly benevolent behavior. Card draw heals all wounds in Commander, though.
