Underplayed $0.38 Two-Drop Perfectly Combines Blink, Sacrifice, and Combo Themes

In EDH, some of the coolest Commanders offer a variety of ways to build around them. Legends that combine multiple themes offer flexibility, making them exciting and powerful options. Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar fits the mold perfectly, rewarding you as a value and combo engine on multiple different axes.

MTG Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar

Thanks to its elite efficiency, Syr Vondam threatens to drop early and start racking up counters fast when your other creatures die or get exiled. While this triggered ability naturally happens when your opponents go to remove your threats, it’s in your best interest to get things rolling yourself.

Since Syr Vondam cares about exiling, Blink effects like Ephemerate Ephemerate Exile target creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.) and Gilraen, Dunedain Protector Gilraen, Dunedain Protector {2}, {T}: Exile another target creature you control. You may return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control. If you don't, at the beginning of the next end step, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control with a vigilance counter and a lifelink counter on it. trigger your Commander without removing your creatures. Cards that exile multiple creatures at once, like Another Round Another Round Exile any number of creatures you control, then return them to the battlefield under their owner's control. Then repeat this process X more times. and Morningtide’s Light Morningtide’s Light Exile any number of target creatures. At the beginning of the next end step, return those cards to the battlefield tapped under their owners' control.
Until your next turn, prevent all damage that would be dealt to you.
Exile Morningtide's Light. , can put an absurd number of counters on Syr Vondam if you have a wide board.

Of course, once Syr Vondam has four power, you can always blink your Commander to blow up problematic permanents. Buff effects like Flowering of the White Tree Flowering of the White Tree Legendary creatures you control get +2/+1 and have ward {1}.
Nonlegendary creatures you control get +1/+1. and Hero’s Blade Hero’s Blade Equipped creature gets +3/+2.
Whenever a legendary creature you control enters, you may attach this Equipment to it.
Equip {4} ({4}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.) help your Commander maintain four power, making it a consistent, premium blink target.

Notably, though, there are other avenues that work to repeatedly trigger Syr Vondam, including sacrificing recursive threats like Bloodghast. To make all your creatures recursive, Luminous Broodmoth Luminous Broodmoth Flying
Whenever a creature you control without flying dies, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a flying counter on it. helps you maximize sacrifice outlets like Phyrexian Altar Phyrexian Altar Sacrifice a creature: Add one mana of any color. without falling behind on board.

If you’d rather go wide than recur your creatures, temporary token mechanics like Mobilize and Myriad also work with Syr Vondam, making Dalkovan Packbeasts Dalkovan Packbeasts Vigilance
Mobilize 3 (Whenever this creature attacks, create three tapped and attacking 1/1 red Warrior creature tokens. Sacrifice them at the beginning of the next end step.) and Ironwill Forger Ironwill Forger Lieutenant — At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you control your commander, target nonlegendary creature you control gains myriad until end of turn. (Whenever it attacks, for each opponent other than defending player, you may create a token copy that's tapped and attacking that player or a planeswalker they control. Exile the tokens at end of combat.) elite inclusions. Even Warping Haliya, Guided by Light Haliya, Guided by Light Whenever Haliya or another creature or artifact you control enters, you gain 1 life.
At the beginning of your end step, draw a card if you've gained 3 or more life this turn.
Warp {W} (You may cast this card from your hand for its warp cost. Exile this creature at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.) , or Timeline Culler Timeline Culler Haste
You may cast this card from your graveyard using its warp ability.
Warp—{B}, Pay 2 life. (You may cast this card from your hand or graveyard for its warp cost. If you do, exile this creature at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.) can do the job.

No matter which theme you lean into most, it’s worth adding payoffs to generate even more value. Preston, the Vanisher is an incredible reward for blinking, for example, letting you flood the board with Illusions. All the while, your token production from Preston and your Mobilize and Myriad cards fuel go-wide payoffs like Cathar’s Crusade Cathar’s Crusade Whenever a creature you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. .

If you want to focus more on sacrifice synergies, adding Blood Artist Blood Artist Whenever this creature or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. effects goes a long way towards killing your opponents. Throw in Morbid Opportunist Morbid Opportunist Whenever one or more other creatures die, draw a card. This ability triggers only once each turn. for extra card advantage and Teysa Karlov Teysa Karlov If a creature dying causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Creature tokens you control have vigilance and lifelink. for double death triggers, and you’ll generate tons of value in no time.

Interestingly, Syr Vondam’s triggers even support life gain and +1/+1 counters themes. Tools like Archangel of Thune Archangel of Thune Flying
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. and Heliod, Sun-Crowned Heliod, Sun-Crowned Indestructible
As long as your devotion to white is less than five, Heliod isn't a creature.
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature or enchantment you control.
{1}{W}: Another target creature gains lifelink until end of turn. threaten to add a ton of extra power to the board, making it easier to close games. Similarly, The Ozolith The Ozolith Whenever a creature you control leaves the battlefield, if it had counters on it, put those counters on The Ozolith.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if The Ozolith has counters on it, you may move all counters from The Ozolith onto target creature. lets you store counters whenever you blink your Commander, then add them all at once to potentially threaten lethal Commander damage in one hit.

Infinite Counters, Life, and Mana

Beyond its impact at face value, Syr Vondam also enables a handful of potent combos. When paired with Animation Module Animation Module Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on a permanent you control, you may pay {1}. If you do, create a 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature token.
{3}, {T}: Choose a counter on target permanent or player. Give that permanent or player another counter of that kind. and a mana-generating sacrifice outlet like Ashnod’s Altar Ashnod’s Altar Sacrifice a creature: Add {C}{C}. , making infinite mana is trivial.

To get started, trigger Syr Vondam’s first ability once. Once the counter is added to the Human Knight, Module triggers, and you can pay 1 mana to net a token. From there, sacrifice the token to Altar for two mana, retriggering Syr Vondam in the process. This will create an infinite loop.

Obviously, any infinite mana payoff like Walking Ballista Walking Ballista This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
{4}: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Remove a +1/+1 counter from this creature: It deals 1 damage to any target. ends the game afterward, as well as any Blood Artist effect. By gaining infinite life, Sanguine Bond Sanguine Bond Whenever you gain life, target opponent loses that much life. and similar life-drain cards end the game, too.

You can also create infinite death and life gain triggers by landing Gravecrawler Gravecrawler This creature can't block.
You may cast this card from your graveyard as long as you control a Zombie. and Warren Soultrader Warren Soultrader Pay 1 life, Sacrifice another creature: Create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") alongside your Commander. With all three creatures in play, you just have to sacrifice Gravecrawler to Soultrader, netting a Treasure. Because Syr Vondam’s trigger offsets the life you pay to activate this ability, you can recast and sacrifice Gravecrawler as many times as you wish.

Cheap in More Ways Than One

Ultimately, getting all of this upside for the low price of two mana is quite impressive. Considering how many directions you can take the archetype, too, it’s a bit surprising Syr Vondam barely leads over 5,000 Commander decks, according to EDHREC.

Luckily, as a recently printed rare with minimal demand, this legend sits at just $0.38. As such, Syr Vondam is a low-risk, high-reward Commander option, and we highly recommend trying it at your next Commander Night.

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