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."
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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 needs
Plays as shrines. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- Shrines and legendary enchantments (its enter finds a Shrine; its activation makes a Spirit per legendary enchantment)
The Hei Bai, Forest Guardian deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 8× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 6× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 5× Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- 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
- 12× Make creature tokens — a static anthem or a go-wide commander needs a board to be wide
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
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
- Frostcliff Siege3 mana
- Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler3 mana
- The Fire Crystal4 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Airbender Ascension2 mana
- Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd2 mana
- Displacer Kitten4 mana
- Norin the Wary1 mana
- Eldrazi Displacer3 mana
- Flickerwisp3 mana
- Soulherder3 mana
- Touch the Spirit Realm3 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
- Freed from the Real3 mana
- Pemmin's Aura3 mana
- Sting, the Glinting Dagger2 mana
- Umbral Mantle3 mana
- Unstoppable Plan3 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
- Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
- Eternal Witness3 mana
- Accursed Marauder2 mana
- Baleful Strix2 mana
- Knight of the White Orchid2 mana
- Spirited Companion2 mana
- Solemn Simulacrum4 mana
- Arboreal Grazer1 mana
Make creature tokens — a static anthem or a go-wide commander needs a board to be wide
- Kozilek's Unsealing3 mana
- Replicating Ring3 mana
- Elspeth, Storm Slayer5 mana
- Caesar, Legion's Emperor4 mana
- Esika's Chariot4 mana
- Hero of Bladehold4 mana
- Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate0 mana
- Elspeth, Sun's Champion6 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
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Green Sun's Zenith1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Nature's Rhythm2 mana
- Neoform2 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
Combos with Hei Bai, Forest Guardian
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Hei Bai, Forest Guardian is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Hei Bai, Forest Guardian + Phyrexian Altar + Freed From The Real13 decks
- Hei Bai, Forest Guardian + Phyrexian Altar + Umbral Mantle8 decks
- Hei Bai, Forest Guardian + Phyrexian Altar + Staff Of Domination6 decks
- Hei Bai, Forest Guardian + Phyrexian Altar + Pemmin's Aura6 decks
- Hei Bai, Forest Guardian + Phyrexian Altar + Gauntlets Of Light1 decks
- Hei Bai, Forest Guardian + Phyrexian Altar + Aggravated Assault1 decks
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