Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER · Bracket 3 · Naya voltron

LIMIT BREAKat 7+ power.

Stack equipment on a single hasty commander, draw cards and make Treasures every time he swings, then end a player in one attack. Three Game Changers carry the curve. Kill window: turn 5.

Bracket 3 standard

Game Changers 3 / 3

Main deck 100

Kill window T5

Cloud has haste. On ETB he attaches one Equipment for free, exactly once. Every attack after that draws a card per equipped attacker and makes two Treasures whenever Cloud hits 7+ power. The rest of the deck stacks more equipment on him and finds protection. One swing ends a player.

// Commander

Cloud is a Naya voltron commander whose entire job is to die holding a sword. Read his text once:

Haste. He attacks the turn he lands.
ETB: attach up to one Equipment you control to him. Free, but only once, only on entry.
Combat: whenever he attacks, draw a card for each equipped attacking creature you control. If Cloud has power 7 or greater, also make two Treasure tokens.

So the ETB free-equip is a one-time staple. Every other equipment after the first has to be hard-equipped, cheated in with ETB auto-attach (Hammer of Nazahn, Sigarda’s Aid), or free-equipped through a separate engine (Puresteel Paladin, Stonehewer Giant, Balan, Forge Anew). Treat the ETB attach as your priority stat-stick: usually Hammer of Nazahn (indestructible while equipped) or Buster Sword (scales with equipment count). The deck is built so the next swords stack fast.

You don’t pick a wincon at sleeves-on. You pick it at the point of attack, based on what’s already on board.

Wincon 1 Voltron one-shot

Cloud + 3 to 5 stacked equipment, swing into the player with the lowest life. Sword of Feast and Famine + Embercleave + Buster Sword is the textbook line. Embercleave’s cost reduction plus double strike turns Cloud into a 10-power double striker = 20 commander damage in one swing. Backup line: Aettir and Priwen sets Cloud’s base power and toughness to your life total, so at a healthy life total he kills in one unblocked swing without the full sword stack. When a single swing is not safe, Helm of the Host grinds instead: each combat it makes a non-legendary hasty copy of Cloud that attaches an Equipment as it enters and draws when it swings.

Wincon 2 Triple combat

Full Throttle costs {4}{R}{R} and gives two extra combat phases this turn. Three swings, three sets of damage triggers, three sets of card draws and Treasures. With Cloud at 7+ power, that is six Treasures and a draw per equipped attacker per swing. Pick the right attack order and you can take two opponents in a turn.

Wincon 3 Treasure snowball

Smothering Tithe (GC) on turn 3 means every opponent draw makes you a Treasure. By turn 5 you’re cracking 6-8 of them on Jeska’s Will (GC) for triple-red and a flood of impulse cards. Professional Face-Breaker turns Treasures into impulse draw. The Treasures also count toward Hellkite Tyrant.

Wincon 4 Hellkite Tyrant artifacts

Hellkite Tyrant wins the game at upkeep if you control 20 artifacts. Treasures count. With Smothering Tithe online, every opponent’s draw fills your artifact count. This is the line when the table racks up answers to your commander but leaves your enchantments alone.

Cloud, Midgar Mercenary (different card, not the commander) is a cheap {W}{W} 2/1 second copy of the gameplan. He tutors any Equipment from your library on ETB. His second clause reads ‘As long as Cloud is equipped, if a triggered ability of Cloud or an Equipment attached to it triggers, that ability triggers an additional time’, the doubling only applies to Equipment attached to this Cloud (Midgar Mercenary), not to your commander Cloud or to other creatures. He’s a second Cloud body. If your commander gets countered, exiled, or eats Swords twice in a row and the recast cost is unbearable, this is the line that keeps the game on rails.

The doubling matters when you load Midgar himself with Swords: Sword of Feast and Famine untaps your lands twice on connect; Sword of Fire and Ice pings twice and draws twice; Umezawa’s Jitte banks four charge counters on a connect instead of two. The trigger doubling does NOT affect Equipment attached to your commander Cloud.

Snap keep

Two-to-three lands + ramp + a body. The classic opener: Sol Ring or a 2-mana ramp piece (Arcane Signet, Cultivate, Nature’s Lore) plus Esper Sentinel or Stoneforge Mystic on the play.

Smothering Tithe in hand and turn-3 mana to land it. The Tithe (GC) is more important than Cloud most games. If you can untap with it on T3, keep almost anything.

Sylvan Library. Draws 2 extra per turn, paying 4 life per kept card. Free if you don’t keep extras. Snap.

Free-equip enabler in hand. Sigarda’s Aid, Puresteel Paladin, or Forge Anew lined up before T4 lets you stack equipment without paying equip costs all game.

Ship back

One-land hand without Sol Ring or a 2-CMC rock. You will not curve. Mulligan.

All five+ CMC. The deck wins through curving into Cloud on T4, not through topdecks.

All interaction, no threats. Two removal spells and zero creatures is a losing hand here. You can’t stop them all and you have nothing to apply pressure with.

Cloud in hand but no equipment, no ramp, no draw. A naked Cloud is a 4/4 with haste. Without follow-up he eats a removal spell and you’ve spent a turn.

T1 Setup

Sol Ring, Esper Sentinel, or Stoneforge Mystic. Esper Sentinel on the play taxes every opponent for the rest of the game. Stoneforge Mystic immediately tutors your best equipment to hand for T2 cheat-into-play.

Don't lead with a tapped land if an untapped white source gets you there for Sol Ring + Esper.

T2 Ramp

Cultivate, Nature’s Lore, Arcane Signet, or Sram / Puresteel Paladin if you have the equipment ready. Nature’s Lore grabs Stomping Ground or Temple Garden untapped. Stoneforge Mystic’s activated ability ({1}{W}, tap) puts any Equipment from your hand straight onto the battlefield, so the Buster Sword you tutored on T1 hits the board for two mana on T2 instead of its full {3} cast cost.

T3 Engine

Smothering Tithe, Sigarda’s Aid, Sylvan Library, or continued ramp. Tithe over Cloud here, almost always. The Treasure economy compounds turn over turn, where Cloud one turn earlier just eats a removal spell.

Sigarda's Aid on T3 means every equipment you cast from T4 onward auto-attaches on ETB. Pair with Hammer of Nazahn for a second auto-attach layer.

T4 Land Cloud

Cloud with at least one piece of protection ready. The ETB free-attach goes on the equipment that matters most this turn. Hammer of Nazahn if you have it: indestructible while equipped. Buster Sword if you have a board of equipment to scale off. Lightning Greaves if the table is removal-heavy.

Samut, Voice of Dissent in play means every creature on your side has haste, including Cloud on every future recast.

T5+ Stack & swing

Stack equipment using your free-equip enablers (Puresteel Paladin’s metalcraft, Sigarda’s Aid, Hammer of Nazahn’s ETB attach, Stonehewer Giant’s tutor-and-attach, Forge Anew’s free first equip, Balan’s mass attach). Attack into the player with the lowest life total or the lowest blockers. Card draw + Treasures pay for the next swing.

Hold mana up for Berserk + Embercleave on the kill turn when possible. Berserk doubles power for a turn. Embercleave is flash. Both flip the math at instant speed.

Cloud base 4 / 4 // haste, ETB attach one equipment

+ Buster Sword +3 / +2 // on combat damage, draw a card and cast a spell with mana value ≤ damage for free
+ Embercleave +1 / +1, double strike, trample // flash, costs 1 less per attacker
+ Sword of Feast and Famine +2 / +2, untap your lands // protection from black and green

= 10 / 9 double strike = 20 commander damage in one swing.

Sword protection lines

Sword of Feast and Famine gives Cloud protection from black and green. That means: (1) black or green creatures cannot block Cloud, (2) black or green spells or abilities targeting Cloud fizzle, (3) black and green combat damage to Cloud is prevented. Against a green commander pod, Cloud holding F and F walks past most of the table’s defenders.

Sword of Fire and Ice covers red and blue with the same three effects. Stack the swords whose colors lock out the blocker you actually face. Color matters more than raw stats.

Halvar kill math

Cloud + Halvar + one Sword scales like this. Halvar’s anthem applies in any combat (your turn or theirs) to any creature you control that is equipped or enchanted.

Cloud 4 / 4 + Buster Sword +3 / +2 = 7 / 6
Halvar’s anthem: Cloud has double strike
7 power double strike = 14 commander damage in one swing, no Embercleave required

Add a second sword (Sword of F and F, Sword of F and I, Embercleave) and you cross 21 commander damage in one swing. The Embercleave dependency that defined the B3 kill turn is gone.

Berserk math

Berserk at instant speed doubles Cloud’s power for the turn and grants trample. A 6-power Cloud becomes 12 power double strike on the swing trigger. Even Cloud bare with one stat-stick becomes lethal: 7 power + Berserk + double strike = 28 trampling damage. Berserk also reads ‘at the beginning of the next end step, destroy that creature if it attacked this turn.’ Cloud dies after the swing unless he is indestructible (Hammer of Nazahn equipped saves him; Shadowspear lifelink does not). Sword of the Realms in play returns Cloud from grave to hand instead of letting him go to the command zone.

Dominion Bracelet math

Dominion Bracelet gives the equipped creature +1/+1 and a Mindslaver-style activated ability that costs {15} minus the equipped creature’s power, with activation exiling the Bracelet. At Cloud’s 7 power, the activation costs {8} (sorcery speed, you may not respond to it). At 15+ power, it’s free. Activating exiles Bracelet, so this is a one-shot play, not repeatable. Sequence: load Cloud with stat sticks to push power to 15 if you want it free, then a sorcery-speed activation on your main phase to seize target opponent’s next turn. Use the Mindslaver turn to set up your kill: tap their blockers, cast their counterspells on their own boardwipes, kill their commander, then untap and one-shot them.

Full Throttle math

Two extra combat phases on the turn it resolves. Three swings, three rounds of damage triggers, three rounds of card draw + Treasures. Cloud at 7 power across three combats = 21 commander damage exactly. Lethal on a single target without any pump spell. Two combats are usually enough if Embercleave is in the mix.

06 // The Halvar pivot

Halvar is a modal double-faced card. You pick the face at cast time. The card does not flip on the battlefield. Once you cast Halvar as the God, he stays the God. Once you cast Sword of the Realms, it stays a sword. If you want both modes across one game, you need to draw Halvar twice or recur him from the graveyard with Forge Anew or Unfinished Business and choose the other face on the recast.

When to cast the front face (Halvar, God of Battle)

Cast Halvar for {2}{W}{W} when:

You already have Cloud or another equipped creature in play and want to push the kill. Halvar’s anthem applies on the spot: any equipped or enchanted creature you control gets double strike, both your turn and your opponents’ turns.
You want to redirect a sword mid-combat. Halvar’s begin-combat trigger lets you move one Aura or Equipment between two of your creatures every combat for free. Move Buster Sword off Sram onto Cloud right before declare attackers. The move costs zero mana.
You have a second body that wants a swing (Cloud Midgar, Samut, Tifa) and want to give the whole equipped lineup double strike for free.

When to cast the back face (Sword of the Realms)

Cast Sword of the Realms for {1}{W} when:

You already have a body on board and want cheap protection. Vigilance plus +2/+0 plus a dies-return-to-hand is one of the strongest protection equipments in the format at 2 mana.
You are about to cast or recast Cloud and want a dies-return-to-hand replacement effect online for the turn. Put Sword of the Realms in play first, equip it to a creature you do not mind losing as the sacrifice target, then cast Cloud knowing that any subsequent removal lets you recur a body to hand.
You need to skip the commander tax. If Cloud is wearing Sword of the Realms when he dies, decline the command zone replacement when his death is announced. Let Cloud go to the graveyard. Sword of the Realms’ triggered ability then returns him from grave to hand. You recast next turn for the original 4 mana, not for 4 plus 2.

The exile trap

Sword of the Realms reads “whenever equipped creature dies.” Dies means “is put into a graveyard from the battlefield.” Cards that exile Cloud (Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Farewell, Out of Time) do not trigger Sword of the Realms because Cloud does not go to the graveyard. Use Command Beacon for those situations, or Mithril Coat indestructible, or Clever Concealment phase-out. Sword of the Realms is your answer to destroy, sacrifice, and combat-damage death, not to exile.

Interaction with Hammer of Nazahn and Kaldra

Both Hammer of Nazahn and Kaldra Compleat already make the equipped creature indestructible. Cloud will not die through Hammer protection unless an exile or sacrifice resolves, and exile shuts Sword of the Realms off anyway. So Sword of the Realms is best equipped to a creature that is NOT also wearing Hammer or Kaldra. Use Hammer for combat-damage indestructible; use Sword of the Realms for “if he does die, he comes back” insurance.

Recasting Halvar into the other face

If your first Halvar (front) eats removal, the next copy you draw or recur can be cast as Sword of the Realms instead, and vice versa. Two different cards for one slot. Forge Anew can also return Sword of the Realms specifically from the graveyard if you cast that face first and lose it.

Forgetting Cloud’s attack trigger. Draw a card for each equipped attacker, and two Treasures at 7+ power. This trigger fires every combat. If you Full Throttle, it fires three times. Stop the swing, announce both triggers, then move to damage.

Spending Smothering Tithe Treasures the turn you make them. They’re more valuable banked. By T6 you should be sitting on a Treasure pile big enough to cast Jeska’s Will + Vandalblast overload + a sword on the same turn.

Forgetting Esper Sentinel triggers on opponents’ turns. Sentinel reads “whenever an opponent casts their first non-creature spell each turn”. They pay 1 generic or you draw. Players forget and you forget. Watch every spell on every opponent’s turn.

Not using Robe of Stars to dodge a board wipe. {1}{W} to phase out the equipped creature, repeatable per equip. Phased-out permanents are not affected by anything; Robe phases out the creature Robe is attached to plus everything attached to that creature. If Cloud is wearing Robe, he and his entire equipment stack vanish for the turn, dodging Wrath of God, Cyclonic Rift, Farewell, exile, theft, and counterspells targeting him. To save a different creature, you must re-equip Robe first (equip {1}, sorcery speed) on your next main phase.

Helm of the Host copies Cloud’s printed card, not the Equipment bolted onto him. The token enters with no Equipment attached, but its own enter trigger attaches one Equipment you control, and it draws when it attacks. It is a copy, not your commander, so its damage is normal damage, not commander damage.

Vandalblast overload also kills your own artifacts. Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, equipment, Treasures, everything you don’t control with another player on your side of the table goes. Re-read the targeting before you fire: it destroys all artifacts your opponents control, not all artifacts. Safe to overload. But the non-overload cost only targets one opponent’s artifact, not yours, so the trap is being too cute with the regular cast.

Treating Full Throttle like extra turns. It’s extra combats, on this turn only. You still pass to the next player after. Don’t tell the table “extra turn” or the rules conversation gets weird.

Robe of Stars. {1}{W}, repeatable, phases out the equipped creature (and whatever else is attached to it). Self-target only: to save a different creature, re-equip Robe first (equip {1}, sorcery speed). When Cloud’s wearing Robe he survives Wrath of God, Cyclonic Rift, Farewell, exile, theft, and counterspells targeting him. The best protection card in the deck because Cloud is the target.
Lightning Greaves. Shroud + haste, 0 to equip. Can’t be re-equipped if needed, but the cost is zero so you don’t care most games.
Swiftfoot Boots. Hexproof + haste, 1 to equip. Re-equippable. Swap onto a second creature when you Berserk or commit to a swing.
Sword of the Realms (back face of Halvar). +2/+0, vigilance, equip {1}{W}, and when the equipped creature dies it returns to its owner’s hand. Skips the commander-tax line entirely on Cloud. Does not save against exile.
Hammer of Nazahn. ETB attaches to a target creature. Equipped creature is indestructible. Pairs with Robe of Stars: indestructible body and a phase-out button.
Clever Concealment. Instant-speed phase-out for your permanents. Best response to a board wipe. Hold mana up on the kill turn.

Recursion

Forge Anew has two abilities. The first is the free-equip enabler everyone reads. The second is the one people miss: when Forge Anew enters, return target Equipment card from your graveyard to the battlefield and attach it to a creature you control. If a sword eats removal, replay Forge Anew (Enlightened Tutor finds it) and bring it back.

Forge Anew can also pull Sword of the Realms back from the graveyard if you cast Halvar as the sword face first and lost it. The recur attaches it to a creature you control.

Samut’s blocking line

Samut, Voice of Dissent untaps Cloud after he attacks. He can block on the way back. Combined with Shadowspear (trample + lifelink + strips hexproof and indestructible), Cloud attacks, comes home, gains life, and blocks the counter-swing. The full “attack and live through the next turn” sequence requires Samut on board.

If you’re sleeving up before a session, throw these in:

Treasure (10+). Smothering Tithe, Jeska’s Will, Professional Face-Breaker, Cloud’s 7+ power trigger. You will run out otherwise.
Rebel token (1-2). Barret, Avalanche Leader makes equip-target Rebels.
Germ (1). Kaldra Compleat’s living weapon.
3/3 Elephant (1). Generous Gift gives the target’s controller one.

09 // Glossary

MTG terms that show up above.

Open glossary

Game Changer: A specific card on Wizards' published Game Changer list. Bracket 3 allows up to 3. Bracket 4 has no published cap but a higher count weights rule-zero conversations.
Bracket: The published power-tier system for Commander: 1 (precon), 2 (casual), 3 (upgraded/standard), 4 (high-power), 5 (cEDH).
Voltron: The strategy of stacking equipment, auras, and counters onto a single creature (usually the commander) to one-shot opponents through commander damage.
Commander damage: Damage from a commander tracks per-source. 21 commander damage from one source kills the dealt-to player regardless of life total.
ETB: Short for 'enters the battlefield'. Any triggered ability that fires when a permanent enters play is an ETB trigger.
Equip: An activated ability on an Equipment card. Pay the equip cost, attach to a creature you control. Sorcery speed only.
Attach: The keyword action for putting an Equipment or Aura onto a creature. ETB triggers that attach an equipment for free bypass both the equip cost and the sorcery-speed limit.
Free equip: Attaching an equipment without paying its printed equip cost. Common enablers include ETB-attach clauses on the equipment itself, Sigarda's Aid (instant-speed attach), Puresteel Paladin under metalcraft, and 'whenever this enters' triggers on equipment-themed commanders.
Treasure: Sacrificial colorless artifact token. Tap, sacrifice it, add one mana of any color. Counts as an artifact for triggers and metalcraft.
Phase Out: Phased-out permanents are treated as though they don't exist until their controller's next untap step. They aren't destroyed, exiled, returned, or stolen. A common protection effect.
Cascade: When you cast a card with cascade, exile from the top of your library until you exile a non-land with a lesser mana value, then cast it for free.
Affinity: A cost-reduction keyword. 'Affinity for artifacts' means the spell costs 1 less to cast for each artifact you control.
Modified: A creature is modified if it has counters on it, or has an equipment or aura you control attached to it. Some payoffs scale off the modified condition.
Vigilance: A creature with vigilance doesn't tap when it attacks. Common in white. Often granted by static effects (Brave the Sands) or equipment (Shadowspear).
Lifelink: Damage dealt by a creature with lifelink also causes its controller to gain that much life. Common in white and black. Often granted by Shadowspear, Vampiric Link, and similar.
Mindslaver: A 'Mindslaver effect' lets you control an opponent's next turn: their draws, plays, and attacks. Named for the Mindslaver artifact; some commander-specific triggers replicate the effect.
Metalcraft: A Mirrodin-block keyword that activates when you control three or more artifacts. Metalcraft cards typically grow stronger or gain abilities while the condition is on.
Impulse draw: Exile cards from the top of your library, then you may play them this turn (sometimes longer). Strong in red and red-adjacent decks; common examples include Light Up the Stage, Outpost Siege, and Bonecrusher Giant's adventure.
Mulligan: Shuffle your hand back, draw 7 again. Standard EDH mulligan: each successive mull, put one card on the bottom at the end of the process (the 'London' mulligan).