Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Hei Bai, Forest Guardian
Hei Bai, Forest Guardian
Legendary Creature — Bear Spirit · {3}{G} · Black/Green/Red/Blue/White commander
When Hei Bai enters, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a Shrine card. You may put that card onto the battlefield. Then shuffle.
{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}, {T}: For each legendary enchantment you control, create a 1/1 colorless Spirit creature token with "This token can't block or be blocked by non-Spirit creatures."
Build a Hei Bai, Forest Guardian deck →
What Hei Bai, Forest Guardian 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 Hei Bai enters, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a Shrine card. You may put that card onto the battlefield. Then shuffle.
- Activated ability{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}, {T}: For each legendary enchantment you control, create a 1/1 colorless Spirit creature token with "This token can't block or be blocked by non-Spirit creatures."
What a Hei Bai, Forest Guardian deck wants
The plan the Forge derives for this commander: the roles it fills and how many of each.
- 8× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 5× Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- 6× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 26× A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- 22× A permanent of the exact NON-creature type the commander counts — artifacts for an artifact commander, enchantments for an enchantress
- 8× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 4× A team pump that actually pumps tokens
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
Best cards for Hei Bai, Forest Guardian
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
- Rising of the Day3 mana
- Temur Ascendancy3 mana
- Thousand-Year Elixir3 mana
- Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki3 mana
- Frostcliff Siege3 mana
- Goblin Chieftain3 mana
- Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler3 mana
- Blacksmith's Talent1 mana
Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- Aggravated Assault3 mana
- Aurelia, the Warleader6 mana
- Bear Umbra4 mana
- Reconnaissance1 mana
- Sword of Feast and Famine3 mana
- Wilderness Reclamation4 mana
- Amulet of Vigor1 mana
- Beledros Witherbloom7 mana
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Airbender Ascension2 mana
- Displacer Kitten4 mana
- Eldrazi Displacer3 mana
- Soulherder3 mana
- Eternal Acrobat Toast0 mana
- Conjurer's Closet5 mana
- Distinguished Conjurer2 mana
- Brago, King Eternal4 mana
A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- Go-Shintai of Boundless Vigor2 mana
- Go-Shintai of Lost Wisdom2 mana
- Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars3 mana
- Go-Shintai of Hidden Cruelty4 mana
- Go-Shintai of Life's Origin4 mana
- Go-Shintai of Shared Purpose4 mana
A permanent of the exact NON-creature type the commander counts — artifacts for an artifact commander, enchantments for an enchantress
- Exploration1 mana
- Hardened Scales1 mana
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Wild Growth1 mana
- Aqueous Form1 mana
- Authority of the Consuls1 mana
- Bloodchief Ascension1 mana
- Burgeoning1 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Bojuka Bog0 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Mystic Sanctuary0 mana
- Simic Growth Chamber0 mana
- Temple of Epiphany0 mana
- Temple of Mystery0 mana
- Temple of Silence0 mana
- Temple of Triumph0 mana
A team pump that actually pumps tokens
- Intangible Virtue2 mana
- Caretaker's Talent3 mana
- Inspiring Leader3 mana
- Pollen-Shield Hare // Hare Raising2 mana
- Prava of the Steel Legion3 mana
- Hildibrand Manderville // Gentleman's Rise2 mana
- Hildibrand Manderville // Gentleman's Rise2 mana
- Mite Overseer4 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Assassin's Trophy2 mana
- Path to Exile1 mana
- Swords to Plowshares1 mana
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Wild Magic Surge2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Final Showdown1 mana
- Vanquish the Horde8 mana
- Amalia Benavides Aguirre2 mana
- Do or Die2 mana
- Martyr's Cry2 mana
- Pest Control2 mana
- Force of Despair3 mana
- Split Up3 mana