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The Swarmlord

The Swarmlord

Legendary Creature — Tyranid · {3}{G}{U}{R} · Green/Red/Blue commander

Rapid Regeneration — The Swarmlord enters with two +1/+1 counters on it for each time you've cast your commander from the command zone this game. Xenos Cunning — Whenever a creature you control with a counter on it dies, draw a card.
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What The Swarmlord actually does

Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.

What a The Swarmlord deck needs

Plays as aristocrats. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.

The The Swarmlord deck plan

The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.

Best cards for The Swarmlord

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 +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there

  1. Branching Evolution3 mana
  2. Hardened Scales1 mana
  3. Ozolith, the Shattered Spire2 mana
  4. Kami of Whispered Hopes3 mana
  5. Benevolent Hydra2 mana
  6. Michelangelo, Weirdness to 112 mana
  7. The Earth Crystal4 mana
  8. High Score3 mana

Creatures you are happy to sacrifice — a free sac outlet on the commander is worthless with nothing to feed it

  1. Phyrexian Triniform9 mana
  2. The Locust God6 mana
  3. Endless Evil3 mana
  4. Old-Growth Troll3 mana
  5. Impulsive Pilferer1 mana
  6. Vivi's Persistence2 mana
  7. Enduring Vitality3 mana
  8. Squee, Dubious Monarch3 mana

Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably

  1. Altar of Dementia2 mana
  2. Goblin Bombardment2 mana
  3. Spawning Pit2 mana
  4. Ashnod's Altar3 mana
  5. Betrothed of Fire2 mana
  6. Phyrexian Altar3 mana
  7. Bogardan Dragonheart3 mana
  8. Greater Good4 mana

Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it

  1. Reality Shift2 mana
  2. Wild Magic Surge2 mana
  3. Pongify1 mana
  4. Rapid Hybridization1 mana
  5. Resculpt2 mana
  6. Beast Within3 mana
  7. Nature's Claim1 mana
  8. Crush1 mana

Find the exact card the plan needs

  1. Green Sun's Zenith1 mana
  2. Nature's Rhythm2 mana
  3. Neoform2 mana
  4. Worldly Tutor1 mana
  5. Reshape2 mana
  6. March of Burgeoning Life1 mana
  7. Mask of the Mimic1 mana
  8. Long-Term Plans3 mana

Answer a spell or ability before it resolves

  1. Mindbreak Trap4 mana
  2. Fierce Guardianship3 mana
  3. Force of Negation3 mana
  4. Force of Will5 mana
  5. Flare of Denial3 mana
  6. Pact of Negation0 mana
  7. An Offer You Can't Refuse1 mana
  8. Arcane Denial2 mana

Answer a whole board at once

  1. Blasphemous Act9 mana
  2. Chain Reaction4 mana
  3. Street Spasm1 mana
  4. Desynchronization4 mana
  5. Wave Goodbye4 mana
  6. Whelming Wave4 mana
  7. Consuming Tide4 mana
  8. Oversimplify5 mana

Refill your hand

  1. Mystic Remora1 mana
  2. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer1 mana
  3. Skullclamp1 mana
  4. Sylvan Library2 mana
  5. Curiosity1 mana
  6. Wizard Class1 mana
  7. Garruk's Uprising3 mana
  8. Professional Face-Breaker3 mana

Keep a permanent you control alive through removal

  1. Hexing Squelcher2 mana
  2. Innkeeper's Talent2 mana
  3. Guardian Augmenter3 mana
  4. Saryth, the Viper's Fang4 mana
  5. Lost in the Maze2 mana
  6. Lightning Greaves2 mana
  7. Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
  8. Asceticism5 mana

Combos with The Swarmlord

Known combos from Commander Spellbook that The Swarmlord is a piece of, and how many decks list them.

Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →

Arcane Foundry is free to join and every tool is included: the Arcane Forge deck builder, the ARCANE Analyzer that scores a deck by simulating games rather than counting staples, a card scanner, a collection vault, and live webcam Commander tables. Read the guide · Browse all commanders · Pricing