Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Sokrates, Athenian Teacher
Sokrates, Athenian Teacher
Legendary Creature — Human Advisor · {1}{W}{U} · Blue/White commander
Defender
Sokrates has hexproof as long as it's untapped.
Sokratic Dialogue — {T}: Until end of turn, target creature gains "If this creature would deal combat damage to a player, prevent that damage. This creature's controller and that player each draw half that many cards, rounded down."
Build a Sokrates, Athenian Teacher deck →
What Sokrates, Athenian Teacher 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}: Until end of turn, target creature gains "If this creature would deal combat damage to a player, prevent that damage. This creature's controller and that player each draw half that many cards, ro
- Keyword · defenderdefender
- Keyword · sokratic dialoguesokratic dialogue
What a Sokrates, Athenian Teacher deck needs
Plays as politics. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- politics — lend it to opponents' attackers so both players draw
- haste and untap effects that reach the commander
The Sokrates, Athenian Teacher deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 4× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 4× Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- 8× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 5× 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 Sokrates, Athenian Teacher
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
Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- Freed from the Real3 mana
- Pemmin's Aura3 mana
- Sting, the Glinting Dagger2 mana
- Umbral Mantle3 mana
- Unstoppable Plan3 mana
- Genji Glove5 mana
- Honor-Worn Shaku3 mana
- White Plume Adventurer3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Path to Exile1 mana
- Swords to Plowshares1 mana
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- March of Otherworldly Light1 mana
- Generous Gift3 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Reshape2 mana
- Mask of the Mimic1 mana
- Long-Term Plans3 mana
- Open the Armory2 mana
- Whir of Invention3 mana
- Merchant Scroll2 mana
- Enlightened Tutor1 mana
- Mystical Tutor1 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
- Vanquish the Horde8 mana
- Supreme Verdict4 mana
- Wrath of God4 mana
- Day of Judgment4 mana
- Shatter the Sky4 mana
- Split Up3 mana
- Winds of Abandon2 mana
- Depopulate4 mana
Refill your hand
- Esper Sentinel1 mana
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Rhystic Study3 mana
- Archivist of Oghma2 mana
- Faerie Mastermind2 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Flowering of the White Tree2 mana
- Bastion Protector3 mana
- Gold-Forged Thopteryx2 mana
- Codsworth, Handy Helper3 mana
- Avacyn, Angel of Hope8 mana
- Coppercoat Vanguard2 mana
- Lost in the Maze2 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Azorius Signet2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
Combos with Sokrates, Athenian Teacher
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Sokrates, Athenian Teacher is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Sokrates, Athenian Teacher + Body Of Research + Teferi's Ageless Insight2 decks
- Sokrates, Athenian Teacher + Body Of Research + Thought Reflection1 decks
- Sokrates, Athenian Teacher + Body Of Research + Alhammarret's Archive1 decks
- Sokrates, Athenian Teacher + Body Of Research + Vnwxt, Verbose Host
- Sokrates, Athenian Teacher + Body Of Research + Bard, King Of Dale