Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Cao Cao, Lord of Wei
Cao Cao, Lord of Wei
Legendary Creature — Human Soldier · {3}{B}{B} · Black commander
{T}: Target opponent discards two cards. Activate only during your turn, before attackers are declared.
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What Cao Cao, Lord of Wei actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Activated ability{T}: Target opponent discards two cards. Activate only during your turn, before attackers are declared.
What a Cao Cao, Lord of Wei deck needs
Plays as discard. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- cards that make opponents discard (its payoff is their discards)
- haste and untap effects that reach the commander (a tap ability is unusable the turn it lands)
The Cao Cao, Lord of Wei deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 15× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 16× Makes opponents discard — the fuel a discard-punishing commander feeds on
- 10× Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 7× Refill your hand
- 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Cao Cao, Lord of Wei
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- Thousand-Year Elixir3 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- Lavaspur Boots1 mana
- Sting, the Glinting Dagger2 mana
- Haunted Cloak3 mana
- Sword of Vengeance3 mana
Makes opponents discard — the fuel a discard-punishing commander feeds on
- Geier Reach Sanitarium0 mana
- Sword of Feast and Famine3 mana
- Tinybones, Bauble Burglar2 mana
- Liliana of the Veil3 mana
- Rankle, Master of Pranks4 mana
- Anvil of Bogardan2 mana
- The Raven Man2 mana
- Drainpipe Vermin1 mana
Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- Sting, the Glinting Dagger2 mana
- Umbral Mantle3 mana
- Genji Glove5 mana
- Honor-Worn Shaku3 mana
- Sword of the Paruns4 mana
- Deserted Temple0 mana
- Leyline Dowser2 mana
- Pip-Boy 30001 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Black Sun's Twilight1 mana
- Cut Down1 mana
- Erebos's Intervention1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
- Scheming Symmetry1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
- The Meathook Massacre2 mana
Refill your hand
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
- Ayara, First of Locthwain3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
- Brotherhood Regalia2 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
- Wayfarer's Bauble1 mana