Best Starter Commander - Linden, the Steadfast Queen

Let’s talk about mono-white in Commander, shall we? It’s a rather forgotten color, and can often get the short end of the stick when it comes to new cards, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun.

In fact, you can build some incredibly entertaining, and very powerful, decks if you know how to do so. So, let’s take a look a the mighty Steadfast Queen.

Meet your commander

Linden, the Steadfast Queen is a three-mana white 3/3 with vigilance that allows you to gain one life whenever a white creature you control attacks. So, our plan here is incredibly simple: play white creatures, attack with them, profit.

Of course, alongside sticking to mono-white, which is kind of required because Linden’s your commander, we’re also going to be looking at being slightly aggressive, but also making the most of gaining life. Despite life gain being at its strongest in Abzan colors, you can still do a lot of good with just white on the menu.

So, let’s take a look at the kind of cards you’ll want if you want to make Linden a potent commander.

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The best creatures for Linden

Voice of the Blessed is a two-mana 2/2 that gains +1/+1 counters whenever you gain life, but also eventually becomes a creature with flying, vigilance, and indestructble. You can then also plop in Celestial Unicorn and Ajani Pridemate to have creatures who also get big as you gain life. Also, get Archangel of Thune, which puts counters on all of your creatures whenever you gain life.

Rhox Faithmender is a four-mana creature that doubles your the amount of life you gain, which is very silly indeed. Angel of Vitality is a three-mana 2/2 flyer that allows you to gain one extra life every time you gain life, but it also gets bigger if you’ve got more than 25 life. You’ve got cards like Soul Warden too, which allow you to gain life whenever another creature enters the battlefield.

Then we have Angel of Destiny, a five-mana angel that kill opponents outright by just attacking as long as you have enough life. Plus, there’s Felidar Sovereign, who just flat out wins you the game if you have more than 40 life in your upkeep. See, powerful stuff.

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The best support cards for Linden

In terms of support cards, Test of Endurance is a four-mana enchantment that allows you to win the game if you have more than 50 life, which shouldn’t be hard here. You’ve also got Aetherflux Reservour, a four-mana artifact that reads, “Whenever you cast a spell, you gain 1 life for each spell you’ve cast this turn. Pay 50 life: Aetherflux Reservoir deals 50 damage to any target.” Being able to kill people with your life total is absurdly powerful in this deck.

Sigarda’s Splendor is a four-mana enchantment that allows you to gain life whenever you cast a white spell, but also lets you draw cards, which is nice. It’s got a lot of text, but that’s the short version of things. Well of Lost Dreams will also let you draw cards, though you do have to pay to do so. It’s good though, trust us.

Finally, we’ve got Path of Bravery, which is a three-mana enchantment that reads, “As long as your life total is greater than or equal to your starting life total, creatures you control get +1/+1. Whenever one or more creatures you control attack, you gain life equal to the number of attacking creatures.” Having bigger creatures is good, and gaining more life is also good. So, there you have out, go out and gain life.

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