LIMIT BREAK at 7+ power.

Opening hands

Seven cards from this build. Commanders start in the command zone. In multiplayer Commander, the first mulligan is free. For later mulligans, draw seven again; once you keep, put one card on the bottom for each mulligan beyond the free one.

KeepShow the seven

• Forest
• Plains
• Command Tower
• Nature's Lore
• Sram, Senior Edificer
• Robe of Stars
• Steelshaper's Gift

T1 Plains can cast Gift; T2 Forest casts Lore; T3 Tower supports Sram and Equipment development. Ensure an Equipment is on the battlefield before Cloud enters, and leave Robe mana when removal matters.

BorderlineShow the seven

• Forest
• Plains
• Arcane Signet
• Sram, Senior Edificer
• Buster Sword
• Robe of Stars
• Berserk

T2 Signet is castable and fixes red, but missing land three delays Cloud and equip/protection mana. At a slow table this can develop; against fast pressure use the free mulligan for a third land.

MulliganShow the seven

• Forest
• Arcane Signet
• Hammer of Nazahn
• Kaldra Compleat
• Hellkite Tyrant
• Embercleave
• Full Throttle

One land cannot cast the two-mana Signet without another resource. The expensive Equipment and finishers do not justify keeping.

Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER strategy guide

Pace and examples. Turn windows below are author estimates and illustrative sequences, not measured multiplayer results or guarantees. A first opponent eliminated is not a whole-table win. In multiplayer the first mulligan is free; later mulligans follow the London procedure. The commander starts in the command zone, outside the seven-card examples.

Bracket fit needs a pace conversation. This loadout is currently listed at Bracket 3. Upgraded expects at least six full turns before a win or loss, generally someone’s seventh turn or later. The faster first-elimination estimates below are not a demonstrated fit. Discuss them before play; if representative games confirm that speed, change the loadout or bracket rather than merely promising to delay a win.

Cloud is a NayaNaya = red/green/white. The three colors this deck plays in. 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 ETBShort for 'enters the battlefield'. Any triggered ability that fires when a permanent enters play is an ETB trigger. auto-attach (Hammer of Nazahn, Sigarda’s Aid), or free-equipped through a separate engine (Puresteel Paladin, Stonehewer Giant, Forge Anew). Balan, Wandering Knight is not on that list: his {1}{W} activation attaches every Equipment you control to Balan himself, pulling the whole stack off Cloud, so he is a pivot carrier when Cloud is gone, not a way to load Cloud, and his damage is normal damage, not commander damage. Treat the ETB attach as your priority stat-stick: usually Hammer of Nazahn (indestructible while equipped) or Buster Sword (+3/+2 plus a draw and a free spell when he connects). 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.

Win conditions

Wincon 1 · Voltron one-shot

Cloud + 3 to 5 stacked equipment, swing into the player most vulnerable to this commander-damage attack after accounting for blockers and interaction. Sword of Feast and Famine + Embercleave + Buster Sword + Shadowspear is the textbook line. Embercleave’s cost reductionA spell that costs less when conditions are met. Embercleave costs 1 less per attacking creature you control. plus double strike turns Cloud into an 11-power double striker = 22 commander damageDamage dealt by a commander tracks separately. 21 commander damage from a single source kills a player regardless of life total. in one swing, past the 21 threshold. Reyav, Master Smith covers the double strike from the board for two mana: any equipped attacker, Cloud included, gains it on the swing. One timing catch: Reyav checks at declare attackers, so the creature must already be equipped when it attacks; an Equipment flashed in after declaration (Mithril Coat, or a sword under Sigarda’s Aid) misses Reyav’s trigger that combat, though Halvar’s static anthem still catches it. Embercleave is the exception either way, because it brings its own double strike. But without Embercleave’s +1/+1 that same stack stops at 10 power, 20 damage, one short of the commander-damage kill, so bank an Umezawa’s Jitte counter or a Slayers’ Stronghold pump before you promise the one-swing line. 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. Price it honestly first: {6} to cast plus {5} to equip, and the payoff scales with a life total this deck spends on shocklands, painlands, and Sylvan Library. 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 two Treasures and a draw per equipped attacker per swing, six Treasures across the three combats. Pick the right attack order and you can take two opponents in a turn.

Wincon 3 · Treasure snowball

Smothering Tithe (GC (Game Changer)) on turn 3 means every opponent draw they do not pay {2} for makes you a Treasure. By turn 5 you’re cracking 6-8 of them on Jeska’s Will (GC (Game Changer)) for a red mana per card in a target opponent’s hand and a flood of impulse cards. Professional Face-Breaker turns Treasures into impulse drawExile a card, you may play it until end of turn. Treats the exiled card like a one-shot 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 draw they do not pay {2} for fills your artifact count, but the build has 22 artifact cards total, so 20 on the battlefield leans on a real Treasure pile: treat it as a long-game backstop, not a plan you chase. The half that comes up in real games is the theft clause: when the 6/5 flier connects, you gain control of every artifact that player controls. 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. Cloud, Planet’s Champion is the third Cloud body: a {3}{R}{W} 4/4 with double strike and indestructible on your turn while equipped, and equip abilities targeting him cost {2} less. When the commander is taxed out, Planet’s Champion carries the same sword stack and hits twice as hard.

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, 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 (Game Changer)) 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 without a complete castable acceleration sequence. A two-mana rock cannot be cast from one ordinary land; it is not an exception. Even Ring needs colored follow-up and sufficient lands to justify keeping.

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.

No equipment, no ramp, no draw. Cloud is always on time from the command zone; judge the opener on the kit around him. A hand with no sword to attach, no rock to accelerate, and no engine to refill casts a naked 4/4 with haste that eats the first removal spell.

Turn plan

The Colossus Hammer shortcut

The fastest kill on the page skips the full stack. Colossus Hammer is +10/+10 for {1}, and every free-attach effect in the deck sidesteps its equip {8}: Cloud’s own ETB attach, Puresteel Paladin’s metalcraft, Sigarda’s Aid, Hammer of Nazahn’s enter trigger, Stonehewer Giant, Forge Anew’s free first equip. Cloud holding the Hammer alone is a 14/14, past his own 7-power Treasure threshold, and with Reyav’s double strike or Halvar’s anthem that is 28 commander damage in one swing off a one-mana equipment.

Ultima Weapon is the same idea at the top of the curve: +7/+7 makes Cloud an 11/11 by itself, and its attack trigger, destroy target creature an opponent controls, is the deck’s only repeatable removal that says destroy. Four other repeatables kill without the word: Umezawa’s Jitte spends a charge counter for -1/-1, Sword of Fire and Ice pings 2 on connect, Kaldra Compleat exiles any creature it damages in combat, and Nazgûl Battle-Mace grants deathtouch, so the equipped creature kills whatever it damages. Equip {7} drops to {5} on Cloud, Planet’s Champion, and attached to Cloud, Midgar Mercenary the trigger fires twice for two destroys per attack.

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.

The swords’ protection is meta-dependent evasion. The unconditional package is Spirit Mantle and Trailblazer’s Boots: Mantle grants protection from creatures, so nothing can block Cloud at all, and the Boots grant nonbasic landwalk, near-unblockable in Commander manabases. Mantle is also the deck’s only Aura, so an enchanted Cloud turns on Halvar’s anthem and Reyav’s trigger without a single Equipment.

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 Sword of Feast and Famine and Sword of Fire and Ice on top: 11 power double strike = 22 commander damage, past the 21 threshold in one swing. Halvar’s anthem covers the double strike Embercleave used to provide, so the swords only have to bring raw power.

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 attached to Cloud returns him from grave to hand, if you decline the state-based move to the command zone, instead of losing him to the tax.

Dominion Bracelet math

The 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 only, and it still uses the stack, so opponents can respond). 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.

Two riders the math above leaves out. Tifa, Martial Artist can add a fourth combat or more: whenever one or more creatures you control with power 7 or greater deal combat damage to a player, she untaps all your creatures. Each trigger during the first combat phase of your turn adds another combat. Double strike or hits on different players can give multiple triggers in that first combat; later combats still untap the team but add no further combats, so Tifa alone does not loop. And Nahiri, Forged in Fury exiles the top card for every equipped attacker in every one of those combats, letting you play it that turn and casting any Equipment she reveals for free mid-kill-turn.

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 have to cast the card from your hand again; recursion does not offer the choice. In the graveyard a modal DFC has only its front face’s characteristics, so Unfinished Business returns it to the battlefield as Halvar, God of Battle with no face choice, and Forge Anew (return target Equipment card) can’t target it at all.

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 the dies-return-to-hand trigger online for the turn. Put Sword of the Realms in play first, then equip it onto Cloud once he lands. The sword returns only the creature it is attached to, and only when that creature dies, so it does nothing for Cloud while it sits on another body and nothing at all against exile.
• You need to skip the commander tax. If Cloud is wearing Sword of the Realms when he dies, decline the state-based move to the command zone (CR 903.9a) once he is in the graveyard. Let him stay there. Sword of the Realms’ triggered ability then returns him from grave to hand. You recast next turn for the original 5 mana, not for 5 plus 2.

The exile trap

Sword of the Realms returns an equipped creature only when it dies, so it does not trigger from exile or phasing. Mithril Coat grants indestructible: it stops destruction and lethal damage, not an opponent’s Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, or Farewell. Use Robe of Stars or Clever Concealment before those effects resolve when their conditions and mana are available. Command Beacon recovers Cloud from the command zone after you put him there; it does not prevent removal. An opponent’s Out of Time phases creatures out rather than exiling them, so that event does not offer a commander move to the command zone and Beacon cannot retrieve a phased-out Cloud.

Interaction with Hammer of Nazahn and Kaldra

Both Hammer of Nazahn and Kaldra Compleat already make the equipped creature indestructible. Indestructible stops destruction and lethal damage, but sacrifice or toughness reduced to 0 still kills Cloud. Exile bypasses dying and 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 card can be cast as Sword of the Realms the next time it reaches your hand, and vice versa. Two different cards for one slot. The graveyard never offers that choice: the card sits there as Halvar, God of Battle, a creature card, whichever face you cast. Unfinished Business puts it back onto the battlefield as Halvar; Forge Anew, which returns an Equipment card, can’t touch it.

Common mistakes

Protection priority

1. Robe of Stars. {1}{W}, repeatable, phases outA phased-out permanent is treated as though it doesn't exist while phased out. It returns at its controller's next untap step. 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; instant speed on your turn under Forge Anew, and Halvar’s begin-combat trigger moves it for free). When Cloud’s wearing Robe he survives Wrath of God, Cyclonic Rift, Farewell, exile, theft, and targeted removal (not counterspells; a spell on the stack has no Robe attached). The best protection card in the deck because Cloud is the target.
2. Lightning Greaves. Shroud + haste, 0 to equip. Move Greaves to another legal creature for zero before targeting Cloud with another equip ability, then move them back. Shroud stops your own targeting while Greaves remain attached; moving them requires another legal carrier and normal equip timing.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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 does three jobs. The free first equip is the one everyone reads, and it also lets you activate equip abilities at instant speed on your turn. The third is the one people miss: when Forge Anew enters, it returns a target Equipment card from your graveyard to the battlefield. The sword comes back unattached, and the free first equip moves it onto a body the same turn. If a sword eats removal, replay Forge Anew (Enlightened Tutor finds it) and bring it back.

Forge Anew is not the only layer. Cid, Freeflier Pilot returns any Equipment card from your graveyard to hand for {2} and a tap, repeatable, and discounts every Equipment spell you cast by {1}. Danitha Capashen, Paragon discounts Aura and Equipment spells by another {1}. Two cost reducers plus a repeatable regrowth is the difference between casting one sword a turn and two.

One card Forge Anew can never bring back is Sword of the Realms. In the graveyard a modal DFC has only its front face’s characteristics, so the card sits there as Halvar, God of Battle, a creature card, even if you cast and lost the sword face. Unfinished Business is the recursion that gets it, and it returns front face up as Halvar.

Samut’s blocking line

Samut, Voice of Dissent can stand Cloud back up after he attacks, but it is not automatic: the untap is an activated ability, {W} plus tapping Samut, targeting another creature, so it costs a white each time and fires once per untap of Samut. Pay it after combat and Cloud blocks 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 needs Samut on board with {W} open.

Tokens to bring

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

• Treasure (10+). Smothering Tithe, Professional Face-Breaker, and Cloud’s 7+ power trigger. Jeska’s Will adds red mana directly, not tokens. You will run out otherwise.
• Germ (1). Kaldra Compleat’s living weapon.
• 3/3 Elephant (1). Generous Gift gives the target’s controller one.

Equipment timing checklist

Sram rewards casting an Aura, Equipment or Vehicle; Aid attaches entering Equipment; Cloud attaches once on entry; attack triggers and combat-damage triggers happen later and have different conditions. Puresteel needs metalcraft, Forge Anew makes only the first equip activation each turn free and permits instant-speed equip only on your turn, and ordinary equip is sorcery speed. Jeska’s Will produces red mana, not Treasure tokens. Protection also stops your own colored targeting: Sword of Feast and Famine gives protection from green, so cast Berserk before that protection applies or use another legal line. Choose attack targets using commander-damage history, blockers, open interaction and the next turn’s retaliation.