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. With Mana Vault opening the curve, this often lands turn 4 or 5. Backup line: Aettir and Priwen sets Cloud’s base power and toughness to your life total, a one-swing kill at a healthy life total even without the full sword stack. When the board says grind, Helm of the Host makes a non-legendary hasty copy of Cloud each combat, each copy attaching an Equipment as it enters and drawing when it swings.
Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER · Upgraded B3 · Naya voltron
LIMIT BREAKon the curve.
Stack equipment on a single hasty commander, accelerate into him by turn 2, end a player by turn 4. An upgraded B3 with five Game Changers (Enlightened Tutor, Smothering Tithe, Jeska's Will, Mana Vault, Crop Rotation). In practice it plays like a B3.5: faster than B3, lighter on interaction than a real B4. Bring it to a pod that asked for B3-plus, not to a tuned cEDH table.
Bracket B3+ plays like 3.5
Game Changers 5 listed
Main deck 100
Kill window T4 to T5
Cloud has haste. On ETB he attaches one Equipment from the battlefield to himself for free. That attach is the whole point of resolving him, so always have an Equipment in play before you cast him. With Mana Vault online, the headline play is a turn-2 Cloud: T1 Vault plus a land, plus an Equipment from hand if you can find one (a tutored Stoneforge target, Sigarda's Aid flashing one in, a 0-equip Lightning Greaves). T2 cast Cloud for RGW with mana to spare; his ETB grabs the Equipment off the field; the attach happens on the stack before any opponent can respond; Cloud swings the same turn because of haste. Every attack after that draws a card per equipped attacker and makes two Treasures at 7+ power. Crop Rotation finds Command Beacon or Slayers' Stronghold at instant speed. Kill window collapses to T4.
// Commander
Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER strategy guide
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. The B4 build plays a faster curve than the B3 page, and the rest of this guide reflects that.
You don’t pick a wincon at sleeves-on. You pick it at the point of attack, based on what’s already on board. In B4 the wincons are repositioned around the faster curve.
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. Even more potent with the B4 curve: you arrive on T5 with Tithe Treasures stacked from T3 onward, so paying six for Full Throttle is trivial and the kill swing has the equipment density to convert. Pick the right attack order and you can take two opponents in a turn.
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. Crop Rotation (GC) plugs in here too: instant-speed land tutor finds Slayers’ Stronghold to give Cloud haste mid-turn after a recast, or finds an extra utility land while the Treasure pile grows. Professional Face-Breaker turns Treasures into impulse draw. The Treasures also count toward Hellkite Tyrant.
Hellkite Tyrant wins the game at upkeep if you control 20 artifacts. Treasures count. Mana Vault counts. With Smothering Tithe online plus tap-loop interactions, the artifact count climbs fast. This is the line when the table racks up answers to your commander but leaves your enchantments alone.
The T2-T3 burst
Not a wincon you go looking for, but the math is on the page: Sol Ring + Mana Vault on T1 puts a {2}{R}{G}{W} CMC 5 Cloud (Vault for 3 colorless, Sol Ring for 2 colorless, plus your 2 land drops covering RGW between them) on the board T2 with a free-equip trigger and one mana up. The pod will not love it. Use sparingly, and only at tables that asked for upgraded-B3 or aspirational-B4 at rule-zero.
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, Nature’s Lore) plus Esper Sentinel or Stoneforge Mystic on the play.
Mana Vault in opening hand + 2 lands. The signature upgraded-B3 line. T1 Vault, T2 Cloud if your two lands cover RGW between them. Snap keep at upgraded-B3 or aspirational-B4 tables.
Crop Rotation in opener with at least one land in hand to sac. Crop Rotation costs G and sacrifices a land you control to tutor any land. The land you find untaps and is available immediately. A basic Forest in the opener is the cheapest sac target; a tapped dual is fine if you don’t need its untapped color this turn.
Smothering Tithe in hand and turn-3 mana to land it. 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
Mana Vault as your only ramp + no Cloud in hand. Vault locks up mana long-term; you need something to deploy with it. Without a threat the next two turns, Vault is a self-inflicted clock.
Mana Vault + Cloud but the land base is all tapped duals. You’ll cast Cloud T2 but pass with mana paid. Most of the time, mull. You can keep it against a slow pod, but a 7-card alternative is usually better.
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, 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 Burst
Sol Ring, Mana Vault, or Esper Sentinel. Mana Vault is the new headline play: pay 1, get 3 colorless this turn, lock the Vault tapped until your next untap step. Esper Sentinel on the play still 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. Crop Rotation can also fetch a specific untapped land in a pinch, but save it for utility lands if possible. T2 Cloud lands
Cloud lands here on a perfect curve, but only with the right colored sources. Cloud is {2}{R}{G}{W}, CMC 5. The T2 line needs all three colors live this turn. The reliable path: T1 land A + Sol Ring + Mana Vault (Vault uses your 1 land mana to cast); T2 untap, drop land B, pay 4 to untap Vault, tap Vault for {C}{C}{C} + Sol Ring for {C}{C} + 2 lands for RGW between them = 7 mana total, two colors covered. Cast Cloud only if your two lands actually cover RGW (Command Tower, Path of Ancestry, Exotic Orchard, a triland, or two duals between G/R/W). Pass with mana up via Sol Ring if your color spread allowed. Alternative T2 if no T2 Cloud line is live: Sram, Puresteel Paladin, or a ramp piece, and curve into a T3 Cloud instead.
If Cloud lands T2 with no equipment in hand, the free-equip trigger fizzles and he's a 4/4 with haste. The trigger is optional, but it can only fire on entry. A T2 Cloud cast on a bare board still puts the commander tax meter at 2 and a clock on the table; weigh against waiting for T3 with a stat-stick in hand. T3 Engine
Smothering Tithe still hits here if you didn’t curve T2 Cloud. Otherwise land Cloud now with a stat-stick free-equipped on entry. Sigarda’s Aid, Sylvan Library, or continued ramp also fits the slot. Tithe over Cloud here, almost always, if the choice presents itself: the Treasure economy compounds turn over turn, where Cloud one turn earlier just eats a removal spell.
If Cloud landed T2 and got removed, the cleanest line is Tithe on T3, Cloud back on T4 from Command Beacon (Crop Rotation can find it at instant speed). Don't recast at the tax if Beacon is live. T4 Equipment stack
Stack 2-3 equipment in one turn. With Cloud attacking since T2 or T3, you’ve drawn extra cards and made Treasures. 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) chain the stack on. Crop Rotation can find Slayers’ Stronghold to give the new threat haste, or Command Beacon if Cloud was countered.
Samut, Voice of Dissent in play means every creature on your side has haste, including Cloud on every future recast. T5 Lethal swing
Set up the kill. Hold mana up for Berserk + Embercleave + Crop Rotation. Pick the player with the lowest life or fewest blockers. If Full Throttle is in hand and you have 5 mana plus Cloud at 7+ power, the triple-combat math closes the game.
If the table is leaving Cloud alone, this is the turn to use that. Don't telegraph the kill: equip, attack, announce Cloud's draw trigger and Treasure trigger, resolve damage. If they had a hold-up spell, they'd have used it.- 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 grants Cloud protection from black and green. That means: black or green creatures cannot block Cloud, black or green spells or abilities targeting Cloud fizzle, black and green combat damage to Cloud is prevented. Sword of Fire and Ice covers red and blue with the same three effects. Pick the sword whose colors match the blockers you actually face at the table. Color choice matters more than raw stats on the kill turn.
Halvar kill math
Halvar’s anthem applies in any combat to any equipped or enchanted creature you control. On a B4 curve with Mana Vault accelerating into a T3 Halvar:
- Cloud 4 / 4 + Buster Sword +3 / +2 = 7 / 6
- Halvar’s anthem: Cloud has double strike (no Embercleave needed)
- 7 power double strike = 14 commander damage in one swing
- Add Sword of F and F: 9 / 8 double strike = 18 commander damage
- Add Embercleave on top: 10 power double strike = 20 commander damage
The B4 kill turn used to require Cloud + 3 stacked equipment to break 18. With Halvar in play, two equipment plus the commander is lethal in one swing.
Mana Vault tempo math
Mana Vault: pay 1, untaps with the pay {4} to untap or leave it tapped (it deals 1 damage at the beginning of your draw step while tapped) every untap step after. The trade is straightforward: +3 colorless this turn, locked next untap unless you pay 4 (or eat 1 at your draw step). You skip one untap step of your other artifacts (Sol Ring untap is fine, Signet untap is fine; only Vault is locked) in exchange for casting your commander a turn earlier. Almost always worth it if you have a stat-stick in hand and Cloud lined up. Not worth it if the next turn is “Tithe and pass” because then you’re just paying 4 to untap Mana Vault (or leave it tapped and take 1 damage at your draw step) for no incremental gain.
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). Sword of the Realms in play returns Cloud from grave to hand instead of letting him go to the command zone, so the Berserk swing is survivable with the right equipment online.
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.
Crop Rotation tempo lines
Crop Rotation costs G, sacrifices a land you control, and tutors any land to play untapped. Two B4-specific lines worth memorizing:
- Mid-combat Command Beacon. Cloud gets countered, killed, or exiled. The commander replacement effect sends him to the command zone (he goes there from any zone change, optionally). Cast Crop Rotation in response, sac a basic, find Command Beacon. Next main phase, tap and sacrifice Command Beacon to put Cloud directly from the command zone to your hand. No commander tax. Recast next turn for the original 5 mana, not 7. This is the strict tempo win the other brackets do not get. Note: this works whether the original answer was a counterspell (Cloud goes to command zone from the stack), a destroy (he goes to command zone instead of grave), or an exile (he goes to command zone instead of exile).
- Slayers’ Stronghold + 2/+0. Hold Crop Rotation. Attack with Cloud + a stat-stick. On declare-attackers, pop Crop Rotation finding Slayers’ Stronghold. Stronghold’s activated ability ({R}{W}, T) gives a creature +2/+0, vigilance, AND haste until end of turn at sorcery speed. The haste is the reason this land matters: if you Crop-Rotation Stronghold into play during your main phase, then recast Cloud or a fresh threat that turn, you can activate Stronghold to give the new body haste and swing the same turn. You cannot activate it mid-combat the turn you fetch it; the activation is sorcery-speed only.
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. In B4 this turn often arrives on T5, sometimes T4 with a Vault-and-tutor opener.
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. Cast as Halvar, he stays Halvar. Cast as Sword of the Realms, it stays a sword. To get both modes in one game, you draw a second copy or recur the first.
When to cast the front face (Halvar, God of Battle, {2}{W}{W})
- You have Cloud or another equipped creature in play and want to close. Halvar’s anthem applies the moment he enters: any equipped or enchanted creature you control gets double strike, both your turn and your opponents’ turns.
- You want a free reattach mid-combat. Halvar’s begin-combat trigger moves an Aura or Equipment from one of your creatures to another at no cost. Slide Buster Sword off Sram onto Cloud before declare attackers. Move Hammer of Nazahn onto a fresh body if Cloud is going to die anyway.
- You want a backup voltron body. Halvar himself is a 4 / 4 that can wear swords. He is a second commander-ish threat that does not get hit by commander tax.
When to cast the back face (Sword of the Realms, {1}{W})
- You need a cheap protection equipment now. +2/+0, vigilance, and a dies-return-to-hand trigger for 2 mana. Among the best 2-CMC equipment in the format for this archetype.
- You are about to recast Cloud and want a tax dodge online. Drop Sword of the Realms on a body you can spare. If Cloud later dies wearing it, decline the command zone replacement so Cloud goes to graveyard, Sword of the Realms triggers, and Cloud returns to your hand. Recast next turn for the original 5 mana instead of 7.
- You already drew Halvar as the front face earlier in the game and want the equipment now. A second Halvar draw can be cast as the sword.
The exile trap
Sword of the Realms reads “whenever equipped creature dies.” Dies means “is put into a graveyard from the battlefield.” Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Farewell, Out of Time, any exile effect: no graveyard, no dies trigger, no return to hand. Sword of the Realms is your answer to destroy, sacrifice, and combat death. Command Beacon (find via Crop Rotation), Mithril Coat, and Clever Concealment cover the exile angle.
Interaction with Hammer of Nazahn, Kaldra Compleat, Mithril Coat
These three make a creature indestructible. A creature that is indestructible does not die to lethal damage or destroy effects, so Sword of the Realms’ dies trigger never fires off them. Equip Sword of the Realms to a creature that is NOT also wearing one of those. Use indestructible to prevent the death; use Sword of the Realms as the “if he dies anyway, he comes back” backstop.
Recasting Halvar into the other face
If your Halvar front face eats removal, your next Halvar draw or recur can be cast as the sword instead. Forge Anew can also return Sword of the Realms from graveyard to play and attach it to a creature, but only if you cast the sword face first and lost it; Forge Anew does not flip the front face into the back.
Forgetting Mana Vault’s draw step ping. Mana Vault does not untap during your untap step. You may pay {4} at the beginning of your upkeep to untap it. If it is still tapped at your draw step, it deals 1 damage to you. That is 1 damage per turn, not 4. Easy to ignore as just ‘tax,’ but track it on a die anyway: if Vault stays tapped for the rest of the game (you do not have 4 mana to spare), you eat 1 damage every draw step for the rest of the game.
Crop Rotation sacrificing a fetch land that was about to crack. Sequence Crop Rotation before you crack the fetch, or the fetch trigger goes onto the stack and the fetch is wasted. The cleanest order: tap a Forest for Crop Rotation’s G cost, sac the fetch to Crop Rotation, find your target. Don’t crack the fetch first and then realize you wanted Crop Rotation.
Mana Vault is a Game Changer. Don’t bury the lede at rule-zero. Open with the five-GC count or the table feels lied to when Vault hits T1. The disclosure is the difference between “B4 brought receipts” and “B4 was pulling a fast one”.
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 T5 in B4 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, Mana Vault, 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}, dies-return-to-hand on the equipped creature. Skips commander tax on Cloud entirely. 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.
Crop Rotation as resilience
A B4-only tool the other brackets don’t get: Crop Rotation into Command Beacon at instant speed. If Cloud gets countered, killed, or exiled, the commander-zone replacement sends him from any zone to the command zone. Hold priority, cast Crop Rotation, sac any land, find Command Beacon. Next opportunity, tap and sacrifice Command Beacon to put Cloud directly from the command zone to your hand with no commander tax. Recast next turn for the original 5 mana, not 7. The line collapses the commander-tax punishment that ordinarily kills a voltron deck after the second removal spell, and it does it on the same turn the removal happened. Worth holding Crop Rotation for this purpose rather than firing it for tempo if the table is removal-heavy.
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.
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.
MTG terms that show up above.
Open glossary
- Game Changer
- A specific card on Wizards' published Game Changer list. Bracket 3 caps at 3. Bracket 4 has no published cap, but running more than a few flags more attention at the table.
- 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). At higher power levels, mass impulse effects double as burst card advantage and mana.
- 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).
- Mana Vault
- One-mana artifact that taps for three colorless. Does not untap on your untap step. You may pay {4} during your upkeep to untap it; if you skip the payment, it deals 1 damage to you at the beginning of your draw step. The cost-vs-damage math: take 1 to keep mana, pay 4 to keep the artifact live next turn. A legacy fast-mana classic and a Game Changer.
Bracket 2
Casual loadout
Same play guide, calibrated for the bracket-2 build. Swap rationale and matching kill window live on that page.
Bracket 3
Standard loadout
Same play guide, calibrated for the bracket-3 build. Swap rationale and matching kill window live on that page.
Reference
Full deck list
All 100 cards with live Scryfall prices, the sideboard, and a bracket toggle that shows the swap diffs in place.