Arcane Foundry › Commanders › 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.
Build a The Swarmlord deck →
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.
- Triggered ability · deathWhenever a creature you control with a counter on it dies, draw a card.
- Keyword · rapid regenerationrapid regeneration
- Keyword · xenos cunningxenos cunning
What a The Swarmlord deck wants
The plan the Forge derives for this commander: the roles it fills and how many of each.
- 16× A creature that HAS the keyword the commander's trigger counts — a card that merely says the word is not one
- 26× A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- 4× Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably
- 14× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 7× Refill your hand
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.
A creature that HAS the keyword the commander's trigger counts — a card that merely says the word is not one
- The Swarmlord6 mana
A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- The Ninth Doctor3 mana
- The Thirteenth Doctor3 mana
- Susan Foreman2 mana
- River Song3 mana
- The Fourth Doctor4 mana
- The Third Doctor4 mana
- The Tenth Doctor5 mana
- The Twelfth Doctor5 mana
Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably
- High Market0 mana
- Lazotep Quarry0 mana
- Miren, the Moaning Well0 mana
- Disciple of Freyalise // Garden of Freyalise6 mana
- Kazuul's Fury // Kazuul's Cliffs3 mana
- Keldon Necropolis0 mana
- Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes4 mana
- Ulamog's Dreadsire10 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Karn's Bastion0 mana
- Bristly Bill, Spine Sower2 mana
- Cankerbloom2 mana
- Ripples of Potential2 mana
- Thrummingbird2 mana
- Thirsting Roots1 mana
- Evolution Sage3 mana
- Mossborn Hydra3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Wild Magic Surge2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- Suspend1 mana
- Snap2 mana
- Into the Flood Maw1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Blasphemous Act9 mana
- Displacement Wave2 mana
- Breaking Point3 mana
- Crack the Earth1 mana
- Simplify1 mana
- Filter Out3 mana
- Kozilek's Return3 mana
- Akki Blizzard-Herder2 mana
Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- Pact of Negation0 mana
- Counterspell2 mana
- Three Steps Ahead1 mana
- Long River's Pull2 mana
- Force of Will5 mana
- Abjure1 mana
- Archmage's Charm3 mana
- Cancel3 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Green Sun's Zenith1 mana
- Nature's Rhythm2 mana
- Neoform2 mana
- Celestial Reunion1 mana
- Worldly Tutor1 mana
- Reshape2 mana
- March of Burgeoning Life1 mana
- Mask of the Mimic1 mana
Refill your hand
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Garruk's Uprising3 mana
- Rhystic Study3 mana
- Faerie Mastermind2 mana
- Beast Whisperer4 mana