Duskmourn is largely a set full of unspeakable horrors, but there’s no darkness without light. Hope lingers on in the form of Glimmers, benevolent spirits that aid the house’s Survivor faction. These creatures all take the form of cute animals and are all enchantments to boot. While the rare ‘Enduring’ cycle of Glimmers isn’t finished yet, I think it’s safe to say we’ve found the cutest member. I refer, of course, to Enduring Courage: an excellent new MTG Dog spoiled just yesterday. With this good boi in play, aggressive strategies get a major shot in the arm.
Enduring Courage MTG
- Mana Value: 2RR
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 3/3
- Card Text: Whenever another creature you control enters, it gets +2/+0 and gains haste until end of turn. When Enduring Courage dies, if it was a creature, return it to the battlefield under its owner’s control. It’s an enchantment. (It’s not a creature.)
If you haven’t seen the rest of the Enduring cycle, they all work like Courage above. They begin as enchantment creatures with a passive effect, then return to the battlefield as pure enchantments upon death. This lets their passive effects persist even if your opponent removes the creature. In the case of Enduring Courage, said passive is an MTG classic. Whenever one of your creatures enters, it gets a big power boost and Haste to get it going.
Long-time Magic fans will recognize this effect from Ogre Battledriver. That card was effectively identical to Enduring Courage, just with a few notable downsides. It lacked Courage’s cute artwork and built-in resilience, yet it still managed to put in a solid shift in Standard, and in Commander ever since. Enduring Courage is significantly better, but Magic as a game is now significantly faster, so it’s not guaranteed to see the same success.
+2/+0 and Haste for all your creatures, tokens included, is certainly powerful. The main issue here is that four mana cost. Most current Aggro decks, be they in Standard or Pioneer, are aiming to wrap things up around then, not drop an understatted setup piece. Courage could certainly have done with being a 4/3 or gaining +2/+0 and Haste itself. As things stand, I foresee it being tricky for this pup to break into competitive Magic, as adorable as it is.
Speeding Into Standard
That said, it would be unwise to write off an effect this powerful immediately. Bloomburrow brought a ton of support cards for aggressive red strategies, some of which were also on the pricier side. Looking at you, Sunspine Lynx. A ‘Big Red’ deck is absolutely not out of the question in Standard as a result. The only question is whether it will be better than the existing alternatives.
Current aggressive decks in Standard tend to lean into the Prowess side of things. The current best deck in Standard, in fact, is Gruul Prowess. This list relies on cards like Monstrous Rage and Might of the Meek alongside creatures like Heartfire Hero and Slickshot Show-Off. This is a deck where nothing costs over two mana, so despite the surface-level synergy, I don’t see Enduring Courage stealing any slots here.
Where Courage might have a better shot is in Boros Convoke. This is also a very low-to-the-ground deck, but it goes a bit higher than Gruul Prowess for the likes of Imodane’s Recruiter and Warleader’s Call. These two cards are here to grant Haste and stat boosts, respectively, to the legions of tiny tokens the deck is capable of producing. Courage does both, albeit at a slightly higher cost. I could certainly see the deck subbing out a copy or two of each for Courage since it plays really well with the overall gameplan.
Outside of Boros Convoke, Enduring Courage is a tricky proposition for MTG Standard. You really need to be going wide for this to be any good at all. It’s worth noting that it does play great against Control, however, so it could become a sideboard staple even in the likes of Gruul Prowess. That said, we may have to wait until Sunfall rotates for that to be viable.
Commanding Charge
Standard viability may be unclear at present, but what is clear is that Enduring Courage will be absolutely fantastic in Commander. Going wide on the board is trivial in that format, which allows for some truly explosive turns with Courage in play. Two extra power is a big deal, especially when you’re spawning 1/1 Goblins or 0/1 Saprolings en masse. Haste lets you catch the table off guard, and rush down an undefended opponent while they’re tapped out from attacking someone else.
The list of popular Commanders that want this card in their deck yesterday is endless. Krenko, Mob Boss, Prossh, Skyraider of Kher, Jetmir, Nexus of Revels; I could go on. Any Commander that cares about tokens and happens to have red in its identity is going to run this. Four mana is easily attainable on turn two with a Sol Ring, and it’s pretty unlikely your opponents are going to waste their exile-based removal on this card. It also synergizes wonderfully with the likes of Warstorm Surge and Terror of the Peaks, letting you stack the triggers and dish out Lightning Bolts as you see fit with every token summoned.
Another easy-to-overlook aspect of this card for Commander is its Dog typing. Players love building Dog Typal decks in the format for obvious reasons, and this is one of the best options we’ve seen so far. The more popular Dog Commanders, like Jinnie Fay and Rin and Seri, care about tokens and going wide, so Courage slots right in. It also plays very nicely with Tesak, Judith’s Hellhound for some truly monumental swing turns. It’s not often we see a Dog with so much power, which means Enduring Courage will likely be a Commander staple.
Read More: Duskmourn Brings A Devastating Three Mana 5/5 Flier To MTG
