Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odric | Art by Michael Komar

Go Wide to Go Tall

Welcome back to Singleton Shmingleton, where I bend the singleton rules of Commander by building decks with as many functional reprints of a certain card as possible.

This week's card has the potential to become an absolutely enormous problem for our opponents, and has captured the imagination of the more casually-inclined player in various forms for over thirty years.

It's Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odric! Since the days of Keldon WarlordKeldon Warlord in Alpha and Maraxus of KeldMaraxus of Keld in Weatherlight, these creatures satisfy the maximalist urge to do both: why only win with a huge board of small creatures, or one single enormous beater, when you can have both at the same time?

For this exact same reason, Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odric has seen little competitive play in any of its various versions. It's only good when your plan of making a bunch of creatures is already working, but the plan of making a bunch of creatures doesn't really need a step two.

Just attack! Many go-wide decks have turned to effects that amplify their board, but these have usually been AnthemAnthem effects that lean into the inherent strength of spreading out your resources among many little threats.

One recent version of Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odric has seen some success in Standard, and that is Regal BunnicornRegal Bunnicorn. It mostly makes the cut because of its sheer efficiency, as well as the fact that it counts any nonland permanents, which is a big boost given that it mostly sees play in ConvokeConvokedecks that can generate a good number of MapMap and ClueClue tokens.

Adeline, Resplendent CatharAdeline, Resplendent Cathar has also seen play, but it has the upside of fueling itself by making tokens every turn, and it is never smaller than a 1/4, which negates a lot of the risk of these cards.

There are a whopping twenty-nine cards that are as large as your board is wide! This design is clearly a well that designers know they can return to, and they're absolutely right. Here they are:

The most played of these cards, in 130,640 decks, is Adeline, Resplendent CatharAdeline, Resplendent Cathar. She's efficient, she fuels herself, and her ability scales incredibly well in multiplayer.

The next most played is Thousand Moons SmithyThousand Moons Smithy, in 48,778 decks. It's great in creature decks and artifact decks, and has the potential to become an engine unto itself.

The third most played card, Eidolon of Countless BattlesEidolon of Countless Battles, also gets a boost from fitting into multiple archetypes, as it counts both creatures and enchantments, helping it slot into 30,150 decks.

The least played card, in only 173 decks, is Soulsurge ElementalSoulsurge Elemental, and I think it deserves better. Sure, it only ever has one toughness, but first strike means that won't matter all that often, unless someone casts PestilencePestilence.

I'd definitely choose Soulsurge ElementalSoulsurge Elemental over the second least played card, Maraxus of KeldMaraxus of Keld, in 311 decks. He costs twice as much, and only counts untapped permanents, so he dies if you ever tap out.

We also have two good options for commanders among these cards in Shanna, Sisay's LegacyShanna, Sisay's Legacy and Queen Allenal of RuadachQueen Allenal of Ruadach.

Most of the Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odrics are in green and white, and those are great colors for tokens as well. I'm choosing Queen Allenal of RuadachQueen Allenal of Ruadach because her second ability looks incredible in this deck.

Step 1: Go Wide

Our first step is to make as many creatures as possible. The best way to make tons of creatures is to look for token producers, and conveniently enough that's also what our commander rewards us for doing.

Queen Allenal of RuadachQueen Allenal of Ruadach gives us the most benefit for multiple instances of token creation, so we're going to prioritize cards that can repeatedly generate tokens over cards that give us a one-time deposit.

Awakening ZoneAwakening Zone and Skrelv's HiveSkrelv's Hive give us a token on each of our turns, and Tendershoot DryadTendershoot Dryad makes one on every player's turn. These cards get out of hand fast, especially when their effects are effectively doubled by our commander.

We're including cards that make tokens just for playing the game. Scute SwarmScute Swarm, Springheart NantukoSpringheart Nantuko, and Emeria AngelEmeria Angel all put creatures on the battlefield just for hitting our land drops. Arasta of the Endless WebArasta of the Endless Web poops out tons of Spiders just for having opponents taking game actions.

We can also play some totally respectable interaction spells that just happen to also make tokens. Aura MutationAura Mutation can turn an enchantment into a huge pile of Saprolings, and Rootborn DefensesRootborn Defenses and Sundering GrowthSundering Growth tack on populate almost for free. Pest InfestationPest Infestation is just an absurd rate, and scales to any point in the game.

While we're making tokens, we can play some cards that give us a lot of cards for doing so. Welcoming VampireWelcoming Vampire and Bennie Bracks, ZoologistBennie Bracks, Zoologist can draw us a card a turn for making little guys.

Audience with TrostaniAudience with Trostani pays us off for making a bunch of different types of tokens, which is great for us since we've got everything from Phyrexian MitePhyrexian Mites to RabbitRabbits. And Shamanic RevelationShamanic Revelation is especially good in this deck since we'll also gain a hunk of life for our huge creatures.

Step 2: Go Tall

Now that we have a board full of tokens, we can play some massive creatures to win the game with. The nice thing about this deck is that we actually have the density where we can draw three or four Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odrics every single game, and most of them are cheap enough that we can cast them all.

And drawing too many isn't a problem either; even if we only ever make two tokens, if we play five versions of Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odric they'll still be 7/7s, which is plenty big. But there are a few cards that we can play that will make our big creatures even better.

Our biggest payoffs are a few cards that can generate tokens equal to a creature's size. Fungal SproutingFungal Sprouting is the classic version, but Windswift SliceWindswift Slice combines that with a removal spell.

And even though Mercy KillingMercy Killing makes us sacrifice the creature, it's worth the effort to supercharge any other Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odrics we can play. These cards can effectively double our board presence, which is exactly what we want.

And of course, we've got to play some more ways to take advantage of these huge creatures. Disciple of FreyaliseDisciple of Freyalise gives us the opportunity to sacrifice a Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odric to draw a full grip of cards and gain some life as well, while also having the option of just being a land.

And Return of the WildspeakerReturn of the Wildspeaker is perfect in this deck, giving two strong choices: draw a bunch of cards, or pump up our whole board of tokens. Most of our tokens are non-human, and many of our Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odrics are as well, including our commander, so it should always do its job.

Rishkar's ExpertiseRishkar's Expertise works similarly to Return of the WildspeakerReturn of the Wildspeaker, but instead of giving us the OverrunOverrun option, it lets us cast a free spell.

Exciting Includes

Sprout SwarmSprout Swarm: This card is simply busted. Mix and match five mana and creature-taps to make another creature, as many times as you like. It doesn't take long to turn a strong board into an overwhelming one, especially with Queen Allenal of RuadachQueen Allenal of Ruadach on the board to effectively double its output.

Sumala RumblersSumala Rumblers: People are sleeping on this card. I think it's on par with Adeline, Resplendent CatharAdeline, Resplendent Cathar, since it also creates a token for each of your opponents on attack.

These tokens don't stick around, but they're also much more threatening than just a 1/1 Human. It's also worth noting that, while the Myriad tokens will go away, the extra token Queen Allenal of RuadachQueen Allenal of Ruadach gives us each time is permanent.

Fists of IronwoodFists of Ironwood: I've loved this card since I started playing, and this is finally the perfect deck to run it. Usually it's hard to find a situation where both the tokens and the trample are doing good work, but here it can pump up a Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odric and give it the evasion we need to win.

Mosswort BridgeMosswort Bridge and Windbrisk HeightsWindbrisk Heights: I love that this deck is easily set up to meet the conditions on both of these Hideaway lands.

Our curve isn't ridiculously high, so we might not be cheating anything expensive into play, but even our three drops are high-impact, especially when these lands' conditions are met. Dropping a Burrowguard MentorBurrowguard Mentor at instant speed when we already have a board presence is just good value.

The Decklist

This deck truly unites the two halves of the Timmy/Tammy soul. It makes stacks and stacks of tokens, and it also makes creatures so large we might need multiple d20s to keep track.

These plans combine for some interesting gameplay. We can often attack without fear, because we have rows of chump blockers for the swing-back. Spot removal is okay against us, but the backup plan of just having a lot of creatures is a totally valid approach.

That also helps for the games where we draw only one half of our engine; creatures just put in work. And while this deck is soft to board wipes, we have a surprising amount of card advantage, and can often rebuild quickly.

Despite running over twenty cards that do the same thing, many versions of Crusader of OdricCrusader of Odric have their own twist or little upside, and it does feel different when we draw Beast of BurdenBeast of Burden versus Wayfaring TempleWayfaring Temple.

These creatures are definitely the star of the show, and it's so refreshing to see how much work big creatures can do even in the age of synergy and broken cards.

Until Next Time

This type of combat trick always performs in limited as a way to ambush attackers, but we'll need to think laterally in order to scale it up to Commander.

Luckily, untapping a creature has a lot of different applications, and I'm sure we can find a way to use all the parts of the card to our advantage.

We got up to plenty of shenanigans with TwiddleTwiddle a while back, and this offers the same kind of abusable untapping. Check back in next time on Singleton Shmingleton!

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Jesse Barker Plotkin

Jesse Barker Plotkin started playing Magic with Innistrad. He was disqualified from his first Commander game after he played his second copy of Goblins of the Flarg, and it's all been uphill from there. Outside of Magic, he enjoys writing and running.