Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Garland, Royal Kidnapper
Garland, Royal Kidnapper
Legendary Creature — Human Knight · {2}{U}{B} · Black/Blue commander
When Garland enters, target opponent becomes the monarch.
Whenever an opponent becomes the monarch, gain control of target creature that player controls for as long as they're the monarch.
Creatures you control but don't own get +2/+2 and can't be sacrificed.
Build a Garland, Royal Kidnapper deck →
What Garland, Royal Kidnapper actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · etbWhen Garland enters, target opponent becomes the monarch.
- Triggered ability · otherWhenever an opponent becomes the monarch, gain control of target creature that player controls for as long as they're the monarch.
- AbilityCreatures you control but don't own get +2/+2 and can't be sacrificed.
What a Garland, Royal Kidnapper deck needs
Plays as theft. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- evasive attackers to take the monarchy back (each time an opponent takes it, steal a creature)
- blink for its monarch enter trigger
The Garland, Royal Kidnapper deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 6× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 6× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 7× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 4× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- 3× Answer a whole board at once
- 9× Refill your hand
- 4× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Garland, Royal Kidnapper
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.
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Displacer Kitten4 mana
- Conjurer's Closet5 mana
- Gossip's Talent2 mana
- Thassa, Deep-Dwelling4 mana
- Nephalia Smuggler1 mana
- Voyager Staff1 mana
- Jill, Shiva's Dominant // Shiva, Warden of Ice3 mana
- Deadeye Navigator6 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
- Accursed Marauder2 mana
- Baleful Strix2 mana
- Solemn Simulacrum4 mana
- Cauldron Familiar1 mana
- Thousand-Faced Shadow1 mana
- Fleshbag Marauder3 mana
- Plaguecrafter3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 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 spell or ability before it resolves
- Mindbreak Trap4 mana
- Fierce Guardianship3 mana
- Force of Negation3 mana
- Force of Will5 mana
- Flare of Denial3 mana
- Pact of Negation0 mana
- An Offer You Can't Refuse1 mana
- Arcane Denial2 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
- Desynchronization4 mana
Refill your hand
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Lost in the Maze2 mana
- 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
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Dimir Signet2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana