Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Odric, Master Tactician!

Odric is a four mana 3/4 with first strike and whenever he and at least three other creatures attack, you choose which creatures block this combat and how those creatures block.

Combat control is an ability that is not often seen in Magic, and having one rely on a go wide strategy makes it an even more effective strategy because it means we can get a ton of damage through by having our opponents not block our attacking creatures.

What also helps is that Odric is a Soldier, which means that we can have a Soldier typal engine as well to make sure that we get a ton of Soldiers and ways to get them big to close out games.

The first thing that I would focus on are ways to get our Soldiers into play, either by making them cheaper to cast or getting tokens onto the battlfield.

Ballyrush Banneret is ideal for this because it makes our Soldier spells cost 1 less to cast, as well as Kithkin spells if we can squeeze a couple of them in.

Similarly there is also Daru Warchief, which not only makes our Soldier spells cheaper, but also gives Soldiers we control +1/+2 which means that any Soldier tokens, which are usually 1/1s, we get in play become 2/3s which can make them more likely to survive early combats.

One of the most efficient ways to get Soldiers onto the battlefield is Preeminent Captain, which when it attacks you get to put a Soldier onto the battlefield tapped and attacking.

As far as Soldier token makers, there is Precinct Captain which makes a Soldier token when it deals combat damage to a player, Hero of Bladehold to give our creatures a boost by Battle cry and makes two Soldiers that are tapped and attacking when it attacks, or even Darien, King of Kjeldor to make Soldier tokens whenever we take damage.

Next we need to get ways to boost our Soldiers via lord effects, and if we can give them extra abilities then that’s even better.

Field Marshal is a good example of following both suggestions since it gives our other Soldiers +1/+1 and first strike, which can be a benefit if we don’t have Odric onto the battlefield but do have a wide board.

Rescue Retriever can put a +1/+1 token on each Soldier you control and prevents battle damage dealt to other attacking Soldiers you control, Valiant Veteran gives a +1/+1 and we can exile it from our graveyard to put a +1/+1 counter on our Soldiers, and Brimaz, King of Oreskos creates a 1/1 Cat Soldier token with vigilance whenever he attacks or blocks.

Siege Veteran is a solid choice as well because not only does it give a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control on each of your combats, but if a nontoken Soldier dies, you can make 1/1 Soldier to replace it.

Now we need to find ways to gain benefits for having a bunch of creatures attacking as a way to help close out the game.

Battalion is an ability that triggers whenever that creature and two other creatures attack, and Frontline Medic has the utility of not only giving our creatures indestructible, but also being a soft counter spell to any spell that has X in its cost. It’s niche, but very handy when that effect comes up.

Boros Elite gains +2/+2, Boros Mastiff gives itself lifelink until end of turn, and Makeshift Battalion gives itself a +1/+1 counter when they all trigger Battalion.

We also have access to creatures that have effects that trigger on attack such as Ancestor Dragon which gains you life for each attacking creature you control, Avenging Huntbonder to put a double strike counter on another attacking creature you control, Crescendo of War which gives attacking and blocking creatures you control a +1/+0 for each strife counter on it that it gains at the beginning of each upkeep.

Odric is a straightforward aggro Commander that allows it to be easier to make a go wide aggro strategy to win. Aggro has a much more difficult time to win Commander games because of how careful you need to be in combat. With Odric, it does make doing damage to your opponents easier, though you will more often then not be left wide open for a retaliatory attack.

You need to get in the proper mind space and be a proper tactician to win your games, much like Odric.

Thank you for reading, see you next time for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual