Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Zirda, the Dawnwaker
Zirda, the Dawnwaker
Legendary Creature — Elemental Fox · {1}{R/W}{R/W} · Red/White commander
Companion — Each permanent card in your starting deck has an activated ability. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for {3} as a sorcery.)
Abilities you activate that aren't mana abilities cost {2} less to activate. This effect can't reduce the mana in that cost to less than one mana.
{1}, {T}: Target creature can't block this turn.
Build a Zirda, the Dawnwaker deck →
What Zirda, the Dawnwaker 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{1}, {T}: Target creature can't block this turn.
- Keyword · companioncompanion
- AbilityCompanion — Each permanent card in your starting deck has an activated ability.
- AbilityAbilities you activate that aren't mana abilities cost {2} less to activate. This effect can't reduce the mana in that cost to less than one mana.
What a Zirda, the Dawnwaker deck needs
Plays as ability cost reducer. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- permanents with activated abilities (each costs {2} less) — equipment, mana rocks, creature abilities
- haste and untap effects that reach the commander
The Zirda, the Dawnwaker deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 16× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 10× Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- 9× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 3× Answer a whole board at once
- 12× Refill your hand
- 5× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Zirda, the Dawnwaker
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
- Thousand-Year Elixir3 mana
- The Fire Crystal4 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Urabrask the Hidden5 mana
- Fervor3 mana
- Hammer of Purphoros3 mana
Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- Aggravated Assault3 mana
- Aurelia, the Warleader6 mana
- Sting, the Glinting Dagger2 mana
- Umbral Mantle3 mana
- Genji Glove5 mana
- Éomer, Marshal of Rohan4 mana
- Honor-Worn Shaku3 mana
- Lightning Runner5 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Path to Exile1 mana
- Swords to Plowshares1 mana
- Wild Magic Surge2 mana
- March of Otherworldly Light1 mana
- Generous Gift3 mana
- Erode1 mana
- Unwanted Remake1 mana
- Angelic Ascension2 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Open the Armory2 mana
- Enlightened Tutor1 mana
- Kellan, the Fae-Blooded // Birthright Boon3 mana
- Templar Knight2 mana
- Idyllic Tutor3 mana
- Imperial Recruiter3 mana
- Ranger-Captain of Eos3 mana
- Loyal Tutor1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Vanquish the Horde8 mana
- Wrath of God4 mana
- Blasphemous Act9 mana
- Chain Reaction4 mana
- Day of Judgment4 mana
- Street Spasm1 mana
- Shatter the Sky4 mana
- Split Up3 mana
Refill your hand
- Esper Sentinel1 mana
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Professional Face-Breaker3 mana
- Archivist of Oghma2 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Sticky Fingers1 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Flowering of the White Tree2 mana
- Hexing Squelcher2 mana
- Bastion Protector3 mana
- Codsworth, Handy Helper3 mana
- Avacyn, Angel of Hope8 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Chaplain of Alms // Chapel Shieldgeist1 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Boros Signet2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
Combos with Zirda, the Dawnwaker
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Zirda, the Dawnwaker is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Zirda, the Dawnwaker + Basalt Monolith10,199 decks
- Zirda, the Dawnwaker + Grim Monolith4,172 decks
- Zirda, the Dawnwaker + Faerie Mastermind + Smothering Tithe1,887 decks
- Zirda, the Dawnwaker + Gleaming Splendor + Smothering Tithe951 decks
- Zirda, the Dawnwaker + Auriok Salvagers + Lotus Petal665 decks
- Zirda, the Dawnwaker + Super-Skrull + Smothering Tithe490 decks