Catapult Squad

Creature — Human Soldier

Tap two untapped Soldiers you control: Catapult Squad deals 2 damage to target attacking or blocking creature.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (10)

Metroid_Hybrid on Saluting Soldiers (Mono-white Soldier Tribal)

9 months ago

There are a total of 5 spells printed in {W} that specifically reference Soldiers. You are running two of them, the other 3 are Catapult Master, Catapult Squad, and Veteran's Armaments.

king-saproling on Hammond Robotics

1 year ago

Thoughts on these? Goldnight Commander, Stoneforge Masterwork, Nettlecyst, Cathars' Crusade, Mantle of Leadership, Hope Against Hope, Catapult Master, Catapult Squad, Skullclamp, Fanatical Devotion, Valor in Akros

king-saproling on Karlach the Veteran Soldier

1 year ago

Thoughts on these? Valor in Akros, Goldnight Commander, Coat of Arms, Catapult Squad, Catapult Master, Winota, Joiner of Forces

multimedia on Any advice? (Elspeth Token Surge)

2 years ago

Hey, some advice is think more about the mana curve and Soldier interactions you can curve into earlier in the game. Your deck is not aggressive because other than Raise the Alarm all the other token sources come from higher CMC cards. Consistently, it looks like if you don't draw Raise in your opening hand then you're not casting an impactful spell for Soldiers until turn four or after and that's if you make all your land drops.

Consul's Lieutenant into Field Marshal is an example of Soldier curve that can give you an advantage. Both of these Soldiers are good with tokens since they're anthem effects. Marshal giving all Soldiers you control first strike makes it easier to do combat damage to your opponent. Lieutenant when it's renowned is repeatable pump for all your other attacking creatures and 3 power first strike, 4 power with Marshal, lets Lieutenant keep attacking. The more renowned Lieutenants you have in your control the more pump that all other attacking creatures get including two Lieutenants or more pump each other when they attack. Two or more Marshals anthem each other and give each other first strike.

Field Marshal giving first strike is very good with Catapult Squad since these two cards can kill a 5 toughness or less creature without either one dying. Squad blocks at first strike combat step doing 3 damage to opponent's attacker, then tap Squad + Marshal to do 2 more damage to that creature. If the creature has 5 or less toughness and doesn't have first strike then it dies before it even does damage to Squad. Squad is nice with tokens as a repeatable damage source to opponents creatures.

Brave the Elements is a powerful one mana instant effect to make all Soldiers you control unblockable for a big attack. This card even with a small army can win the game. Since the protection is at instant speed then you can also use it to protect your creatures from targeted removal or removal that does damage such as red burn from Anger of the Gods. Protection from a color protects against damage, being blocked, being targeted, enchanted/equipped from that color. Anger is doing the damage and it's red thus name red with Elements and none of your creatures take damage.

Swords to Plowshares is the most powerful one mana instant creature removal spell in Magic. The mana efficiency and versatility of Swords far outweighs giving your opponent some life.

Good luck with your deck.

ItzCrazyy on Private army

5 years ago

On face, the deck seems like a good budget deck. It conforms with the general standards for an edh deck and follows a clear strategy. However, I think that there are some problems with the deck. Although it is built on a budget, there are only 6 ramp card in total plus 2 cards which decrease the cost of soldiers. On face it looks ok, but paired with only 36 lands (one of which ( Temple of the False God ) being a half-ramp card) it is questionable. I would add another ramp (like Thran Dynamo ) and a land ( Evolving Wilds , Terramorphic Expanse , Spinerock Knoll ). Also, I would argue that the removal in this deck is weak. The only true removal spell is Swords to Plowshares while others with worse conditions, like Response / Resurgence and Spear of Heliod , can have some major downsides in a commander game. The other single target removal spells ( Steam Catapult , Intrepid Hero , Catapult Squad and Catapult Master ) are, quite frankly very limited and. In addition to the weakness of the removal, there are only 7 of them, which is, in my opinion, quite lacking, especially considering 4 of them are creatures and there is no enchantment or artifact removal. I would reccomend the extra investment for Path to Exile , and also consider Lightning Bolt , Vandalblast , Wear / Tear and Oppressive Rays . One final point is the colour wheel of the deck (next to the mana curve). I find that, for a 2 colour deck, there is far too little red for it to be worth playing. Because of this, there are relatively few red mana producing cards, meaning often you will not be able to play the few red spells that you will inevitably draw, they are dead cards (this is why i recommended Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds above). However, I would also like to complement the deck building, as the theme of the deck is very strong and maintained, and I hope to see it do well in play-testing.

CardTyrant on Soldier Tokens

6 years ago

Looks pretty tasty, and it's a great start!

I would take out Quest for the Holy Relic, Open the Armory, and Strength of Arm due to not really having that much equipment. I would add 3 more Plains (I would also try to balance your mana better, try less Mountains and more Plains). If that mana fixing becomes an issue, add in Evolving Wilds, Myriad Landscape, Warped Landscape, Terminal Moraine, Arid Mesa, Naya Panorama, or Terramorphic Expanse. I would recommend adding at least 3-5 fetch lands to help mana fixing.

If you take out Armory of Iroas, Murder Investigation, and Coat of Arms, you could free up the last two spots for the 38 lands.

I did notice that a lot of your soldiers have a synergy with equipment cards, yet you only run 2 equipment cards. I was a bit confused by this. I would recommend taking them all out and replacing them. I would also recommend trying to run 2 more soldiers (you are at that tribal sweet spot with all the soldier creatures, but Boros is known for being aggressive with instant/sorcery AND creatures). 30 creatures is great aggro. Here are some creatures I would recommend: Brimaz, King of Oreskos, Blaze Commando, Sunhome Guildmage, Preeminent Captain, Field Marshal, Daru Warchief, Ballyrush Banneret, Veteran Swordsmith, Rhox Pikemaster, or Catapult Squad. The cards I'd recommend to take out are Auriok Steelshaper, Auriok Survivors, Auriok Windwalker, Conclave Phalanx, Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas, Relic Seeker, Fated Conflagration, Arrows of Justice.

You already have a lot of key cards. I do see that your mana is very unbalanced. I would add more Plains. If you just take out one Mountain at a time and switch it for a Plains until your Pie Chart for your mana is "perfectly" aligned. It won't always be there, but the closer the better. With this being a tribal deck, it would help to have cards like Cavern of Souls, but that's a make-or-break card for you wallet. I actually don't even have one (it's one of the last 9 cards I WANT for my Gishath deck). Soldiers won't really get a lot of heat at any of my play groups, so getting countered shouldn't be that big of an issue.

Here is what I would take out and add:

- Quest for the Holy Relic
- Open the Armory
- Strength of Arm
- Armory of Iroas
- Coat of Arms
- Murder Investigation
- Auriok Steelshaper
- Auriok Survivors
- Auriok Windwalker
- Conclave Phalanx
- Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas
- Relic Seeker
- Fated Conflagration
- Arrows of Justice

+ Evolving Wilds
+ Terramorphic Expanse
+ Naya Panorama
+ 3x Plains
+ Sunhome Guildmage
+ Brimaz, King of Oreskos
+ Daru Warchief
+ Rhox Pikemaster
+ Ballyrush Banneret
+ Field Marshal
+ Veteran Swordsmith
+ Preeminent Captain

Rebalance Mountains and Plains to match the Pie Chart

Sorry for the ranty post. I get a bit into it.

PurpleSprout458 on The Alliance of Kjeldor

6 years ago

This looks like a pretty solid Soldier tribal deck. But I see some room for improvement:

1. There are a couple of lands I would suggest running that will be a little better than Plains in your deck. Firstly, Daru Encampment is a staple soldier land. I would also look at Nomad Stadium as a means to deal yourself damage and increase your legion. There are also some generally good white mana-makers which can be of use in any monowhite deck. But they tend to be pricey, so I'll leave them off my list.
2. You're making a ton of tokens with this deck, and to that end Anointed Procession can be of assistance.
3. Catapult Master and Catapult Squad are two all-stars in Soldier tribal that sometimes get missed.
4. Finally, there seem to be some cards in here that aren't pulling their weight as Soldiers. I would remove Perimeter Captain and Valiant Guard, along with Timely Reinforcements. There are just better options in Commander than those cards.

I hope this helps. This looks like a super-fun EDH deck, and +1 for using my favorite tribal card: Cryptic Gateway.

Gadianten on Odric, lunarch marshal/EDH

6 years ago

I like the general beat down premise of the deck although I feel some of the soldier choices are sub optimal such as Abzan Skycaptain. I am guessing by the number of more recently released soldiers that your collection is fairly new and that you are working with what you have. With that in mind I have compiled some categories for soldiers you may wish to consider in the future for roles in the deck.

General Combat value soldiers: Aerial Responder, Bastion Protector, Fabled Hero, Fencing Ace, Gustcloak Savior, Kazandu Blademaster, Odric, Master Tactician. Bastion Protector is HIGHLY advised if you can as it makes your creature board indestructible with your commander out in combat. I would also recommend in general using creatures that are inexpensive and provide two or more useful keywords, although double strike is powerful enough to warrant use by itself I feel.

Token generators: Darien, King of Kjeldor, Brimaz, King of Oreskos, Lieutenants of the Guard, Patrol Signaler, Precinct Captain. Soldiers tend to die pretty quickly with the eldritch abominations that frequent commander and especially when board wipes abound so I would recommend increasing the solider token generation of the deck to ensure a capable offense. Darien has recently been changed to a solider and so could fit the deck pretty well.

Utility: Catapult Master, Catapult Squad, Aegis of the Gods, Intrepid Hero, Kalemne's Captain. Flexibility can be pretty useful for survival in commander and I feel these offer some flexibility without impacting the raw offensive capabilities of the deck much.

Hate Effects: Loxodon Gatekeeper, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Thalia, Heretic Cathar. Although not necessary there are a few tax and hate effects in solider tribal if you ever wanted to branch out in that direction but I feel its better to go all in or not at all with hate effects, however these are some of those options.

Anthem/Discount: Daru Warchief, Field Marshal. I don't think the field marshal is probably worth it but I would recommend the Warchief as its a discount AND anthem effect in one for a reason cost.

Card advantage: Enlistment Officer, Mentor of the Meek, Palace Sentinels, Preeminent Captain, Ranger of Eos, Recruiter of the Guard, Relic Seeker. Card advantage will make or break you in commander while I think all these are worthy inclusions I can not state strongly enough how much you need Mentor of the Meek, with Elspeth he is pay three mana draw three cards and most solider cards will trigger his ability. Monarch will also net you a card at the end of your turn and with your solider army the odds of you getting hit for combat damage and losing monarch are fairly slim and easy to get back if you do.

Life Gain: Soldier of the Pantheon. I personally think your life gain should be left to equipment with life link since if your deck is doing its job its going to be most people hiding behind creatures from you, but here is a tribal life gain creature.

Equipment Choices: Basilisk Collar, Chariot of Victory, Batterskull, Lightning GreavesThese were some equipment I thought might fit the deck well and tried to aim for equipment that would add two or more keywords, Lightning Greaves are worth adding for the haste and free equip cost in my opinion.

Enchantments: Dictate of Heliod, Cathars' Crusade. I would not advise going for the heroic mechanic with auras as the deck seems to have difficulty with card advantage currently and you are setting your self up for two for one losses to removal, with that in mind I recommend these solid anthem effects.

Card draw: Mind's Eye, Staff of Nin, Skullclamp. You will find card draw to be quite tricky in white so I have compiled a few non creature draw engines for you to consider, I recommend adding all of them as you can never really have enough card draw, just ask a blue player.

In the future I would recommend adding 5-8 enchant/artifact destruction spells, especially artifacts, as creature strategies can be easily disrupted or fall victim to combos and your deck has almost no ways to stop such things currently. Look forward to seeing how this evolves in the future.