Individual combo pieces are some of the tougher cards to find slots for in MTG Commander decks. While they can literally win you the game when drawn at the right time, they often don’t advance your game plan outside of that. Some MTG cards, however, like the excellent Phantom Steed, manage to buck that trend. This supernatural stallion can help you push for a win with some truly devious combo lines. On top of that, it also plays great in the day-to-day, thanks to its ample potential for value and protection.
Phantom Steed MTG
While Phantom Steed is a great way to protect key creatures from removal and board wipes, its big draw is the ability to make copies of the creatures it exiles on attack. This works particularly well with creatures like Thragtusk and Circuit Mender, which net you value on both entering and leaving. Since the copies are tokens, you can also push things even further using token doublers like Anointed Procession or Parallel Lives.
While you’ll generally only be copying your own creatures with Phantom Steed, it’s actually a great way to leverage opponents’ creatures alongside theft effects. Nab a key creature with an Act of Treason or Chamber of Manipulation, and you can exile it to Steed, effectively extending the duration of your theft effect.
If you want to get really funky, Phantom Steed can exile multiple creatures at once with a trigger doubler like Panharmonicon in play. This will let Steed make copies of both exiled creatures with each swing, which you can then double with Firebender Ascension for truly absurd levels of value.
Though you typically only get to keep Phantom Steed’s tokens until the end of combat, cards that end the turn on the spot can get around this downside. Using either Sundial of the Infinite or Obeka, Splitter of Seconds before combat ends will skip right over that step, keeping the tokens around permanently. All of this already makes Steed a great value card, but it also has tons of potential for infinite combo shenanigans.
Clip-Cloppin’ Combos
Phantom Steed enables all sorts of Commander combos, including a two-card infinite turns line with Medomai the Ageless. Provided the Medomai token you create when Steed attacks can connect for damage, you’ll be able to keep taking extra turns, as each Medomai token will enter already attacking. A similar combo is also available with Port Razer, offering up infinite combat phases.
You can also unleash some pretty excellent infinite blink combos with Phantom Steed, using Abdel Adrian, Gorion’s Ward and any other blink creature, such as Restoration Angel. Start by exiling the blink creature with Steed, then exile Steed with Gorion, creating a 1/1 token. The blink creature will then return, and you can use it to blink Abdel Adrian, bringing Steed back to exile the blink creature again. You can repeat this loop infinite times for infinite 1/1 tokens, as well as infinite enters triggers for an Altar of the Brood win.
If you’d rather generate infinite mana and death triggers, Phantom Steed has you covered there too, when paired with Ashnod’s Altar and Karmic Guide. Simply exile Karmic Guide with Steed, then sacrifice Steed to Altar for two colorless mana. This will bring Guide back into play, and you can use its enters trigger to reanimate Steed, exiling Guide again. Rinse and repeat for an easy win with a mana outlet like Walking Ballista, or any kind of Blood Artist effect.
Horses For Courses
What really makes Phantom Steed great is how widely applicable it is in all sorts of MTG decks. Pretty much every Commander deck runs creatures that generate value on entry, or Commanders that need protecting, and Steed is solid in those scenarios alone. In more specialized lists, like Blink and Reanimator strategies, it only becomes a more tempting proposition.
Despite this, Phantom Steed doesn’t see nearly as much Commander play as you’d expect. By EDHREC numbers, only around 9,270 players run the card, which feels low for such a flexible piece. It’s not like Steed is an old, forgotten classic, either: the card was only printed five years ago, in the Dungeons & Dragons Commander precons.
While its low play rate may be a mystery, it does mean that Phantom Steed is a very affordable card despite its single printing. You can pick up near-mint copies of the base version on TCGplayer right now for just $0.38, or $0.65 if you want to splash for the extended art printing. At these prices, the card is a fantastic pickup, particularly as a budget pick for blink decks, which tend to be quite expensive once staples get involved.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!