Over the years, Tokens has remained one of the most popular and powerful archetypes in Commander. Having the ability to go wide and make single target removal spells look silly is a huge boon. With so many thematic legends to build around, the Tokens archetype never seems to lose its luster.
Unfortunately, given the strategy’s popularity, many token makers and payoffs have become quite expensive. The good news, at least, is that there are still plenty of decent options for anyone playing on a budget. If you’re looking to upgrade your Tokens deck without breaking the bank, make sure to keep these cards on your radar.
Defenders of Humanity/March of the Canonized
Regardless of who you decide to jam in the command zone, if you’re sticking with the Tokens theme, it’s in your best interest to incorporate cards that scale as games go long. After all, you’re bound to play against board wipes, and having access to “army in a can” cards goes a long way in helping you rebuild.
Both Defenders of Humanity and March of the Canonized are great examples of token makers that fit the mold. In the late game, when you’ve developed your mana, either of these underrated options can pull you right back into a favorable position. Plus, unlike other options like Secure the Wastes, these X spells come attached to enchantments with potent activated abilities.
While Defenders of Humanity is a decent inclusion in nearly any Tokens shell, it is a particularly powerful addition to Duskana, the Rage Mother decks. Mana engines like Brigid, Clachan’s Heart and Jaheira, Friend of the Forest also help you get additional mileage out of the enchantment’s activated ability after building out a big board.
Meanwhile, March of the Canonized is at its best in any deck that can reliably enable its second ability. Legends like Edgar Markov that reward you for going wide with Vampires make for elite homes for this enchantment, too. Flooding the board with Lifelink tokens even has merit in Amalia Benavides Aguirre decks as well.
Audience with Trostani/Brood Monitor
While some Tokens decks do incorporate typal synergies, many Commanders like Baylen, the Haymaker and Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice don’t actually care what types of tokens you make. After all, support cards from Ocelot Pride to Rampaging Baloths all help you reach the same end goal of creating a wide board, just in different ways. As such, it’s very common for these decks to feature a wide variety of creature types on the battlefield at once.
This makes Audience with Trostani a very intriguing card to consider. Card draw isn’t always easy to come by in green, and this sorcery has a high ceiling for only three mana. Considering that Plants aren’t the most abundant token type, either, there’s a good chance Audience with Trostani will add a new token type to the board when you cast it.
Speaking of cards that make creature tokens of unique types, Brood Monitor still doesn’t get the respect it deserves. Alongside Conjurer’s Closet and other blink effects, this uncommon helps you generate a big board in no time. The extra mana the Scions produce can be very useful, even opening the door for combo kills. Pairing Brood Monitor with Eldrazi Displacer, for example, enables you to blink Brood Monitor infinite times and get infinite enters and death triggers out of the deal.
Mogg Infestation/Release the Gremlins
In red, many of the strongest Token Commanders, including Krenko, Mob Boss, incentivize you to add a ton of other Goblins to the board. One of the quickest ways to double your board presence is to resolve Mogg Infestation. While destroying your Commander in the process, if it’s in play, isn’t ideal, Indestructible effects like Darksteel Plate can get around this negative.
Plus, the upside of converting each of your small creatures into multiple bodies is huge. With Purphoros, God of the Forge or Impact Tremors in play, Mogg Infestation threatens to end games by itself. As long as you have other ways to reliably create a big board of small creatures, Mogg Infestation is a cool card to add to your deck.
For those interested in a red token maker with broader applications, though, Release the Gremlins is a great mana sink. The only caveat with this card is that you do need artifacts in play to target in order to make tokens. In a multiplayer Commander game, though, players are bound to have plenty of mana rocks and equipment to target. Having interaction that also helps you proactively add to your board is a big deal for Tokens decks.
Stolen by the Fae
Despite the fact that most Token decks fall within the Naya color sphere, there are some cheap token makers in blue and black that deserve more attention. Stolen by the Fae, for example, is a neat option with plenty of applications in Faeries shells.
Similar to Release the Gremlins, Stolen by the Fae lets you disrupt the opponent and add to your side of the battlefield at the same time. Once again, you do need a target to get your bonus, but this shouldn’t be difficult to come by.
With the recent printing of Maralen, Fae Ascendant, Stolen by the Fae has some extra utility, too. Going wide not only triggers Maralen’s exile ability a bunch of times, but it also makes it more likely you can cast a big spell from exile for free.
Of course, there are plenty of other Commanders like Obyra, Dreaming Duelist or Zaxara, the Exemplary that can make good use of Stolen by the Fae. Throw in Bident of Thassa or Coastal Piracy to take advantage of your wide board of evasive creatures, and you’ve got a gameplan!
Empty the Pits
Much like Defenders of Humanity and March of the Canonized, Empty the Pits gets better and better as the game goes on. What makes Empty the Pits so unique, though, is that you can maximize the card further just by Delving away cards. With any self-Mill, Empty the Pits quickly becomes a one-card wrecking crew, and you can always cast this card on your opponent’s end step when they least expect it.
As a result, legends like Teval, the Balanced Scale that fuel your graveyard synergize nicely with Empty the Pits. Of course, Zombie payoffs such as The Scarab God or Gisa, the Hellraiser can also utilize this spell. Yet, despite its range of applications, Empty the Pits remains extremely underrated. Luckily, players can easily get their hands on a copy of the mythic for under $0.50.
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