Knight-Captain of Eos

Creature — Human Knight

When Knight-Captain of Eos enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens into play.

{W}, Sacrifice a Soldier: Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn.

Discussion (50)

Mana_Mythic_Legendary on Pursuing Perfection, Part 1: Mono-White …

2 months ago

This is the start of a project inspired by a TED talk. The speaker was part of a commission to create the perfect Pepsi, but the data he’d gathered was less than helpful. Instead of forming a nice, easy bell curve, the gathered preferences formed seemingly random clusters. That’s when he had an epiphany: a perfect Pepsi was impossible, but perfect Pepsis were. Some people liked it sweeter, some with less carbonation, some with more citric acid. I don’t remember how Pepsi took that report, but it was an interesting insight and I never forgot it.

Years later, I was reading the comments on an article about the ten best commanders. Most of them railed against the writer’s choices. Why wasn’t this one at the top, why wasn’t this guy on the list, why were all the picks garbage… That's when it occurred to me. Salt aside, the article was chasing the perfect Pepsi. Any article trying to rank options would be, because the commanders don’t exist in a vacuum. They exist in context, and what works in one place is a wretched pile in the next. There is no perfect commander. However, there are perfect commanders, and that’s what we’ll be thinking about here.

Over the course of this project I’ll be discussing the thematic strengths of various colors and color combinations. Each article will highlight nine commanders who showcase those themes in different ways, then close with a personal favorite. This isn’t meant to be a list of the optimal but rather the fun, a celebration of the format.

Today’s topic is White, held by some to be the weakest color to run solo in commander. Funny, since this “weakest” color has little miss indestructible-on-a-stick Avacyn, Angel of Hope , that black hole of aggro Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite , and the wombo combo beast Heliod, Sun-Crowned himself. We’re not here to discuss the powerhouses, though. We are here to talk about why you would play mono-white in the first place. White, friends, is where you come to drown your opponents in tokens, where Voltron stashes the best kitties, and where the friendless beast Stax makes its lonely home.

White Weenies

While Marrow-Gnawer and Krenko may live in the limelight of mono-colored horde decks, white is where said horde hangs its thematic hat. Here be the lion’s share of “creatures you control get” goodies, crowned by the mathematically grueling Cathars' Crusade . Here be the Hero of Bladehold and the Knight-Captain of Eos . Here! Be! Elspeth!

First in our trifecta of white weenie lords is Mikaeus the Lunarch. Stick him at the head of a horde and watch his minions git gud. There are quite a few shenanigans, like Elite Scaleguard , that will delight in having this guy at the head of a deck.

Going a different direction, Darien makes minions himself rather than relying on token generators from the deck. Opponents will be understandably leery of touching his pilot with anything less than lethal damage. Add in Soul Warden and a few of her friends and things get downright silly.

Lord of keyword soup. What more needs to be said? Go in fear of his motley crew, in all probability lead by Zetalpa, Primal Dawn .

Voltron

Anyone can sink money into a fistful of swords or powerhouse auras and turn their pet legend into an unholy terror. White, though, has the greatest affinity for soloing Voltron. Equipment or auras, or even both, there’s a deep pool of support to chose from. The keyword Protection is part of what makes the swords so lethal, and white hands out that keyword like candy.

Drawing is white’s weakest point, you say? Sram laughs at you and your lies as he beats you senseless. There is a pile of white cards that reward you for playing auras or for playing artifacts. Sram isn’t so picky. Be like Sram.

I really like this guy. Moving gear for free is great, but passing out double strike like free samples is downright brutal. Bloodforged Battle-Axe , anyone? Even as an equipment he does silly, silly things with friends like Kami of False Hope or Ranger-Captain of Eos .

Hulk or horde? Why not both? Stack some toys on Kemba and watch your board grow, then go full theme and drop Raksha Golden Cub to take the throne with your army of cranky Norwegian forest cats. Include Leonin Shikari and (cat)ckle with glee. I wasn't joking about white, Voltron, and kitties.

Stax

Here’s the mean side of white. Blue may counter you, red may burn you, black may drain you, but only white truly embodies the spirit of the Smallpox flavor text. Whether you share the pain with cards like Hushbringer or dish it out with Drannith Magistrate and friends, opponents will go in fear of those terrible words “can’t” and “don’t.”

If you’re building stax, we can assume making allies in the game isn’t a priority. Horoki has no friends. Horoki needs no friends. Only rocks. Rocks, and something to put victims out of their misery.

Somewhat kinder than Horoki, but only somewhat, since you don’t suffer with them. Their creatures can’t tap for mana. Their creatures can’t sacrifice each other. Their creatures can’t. So many can'ts, so little can.

Maybe you can’t outramp them, but you can slow them down. Thalia functionally robs opponents of turns, blockers, and, if you rob them enough, of the win. A 3/2 with first strike is already good for three mana, and at this point is just icing on this vicious cake.

And, for my personal favorite...

A rule of thumb of mine is that one mark of a good deck is that it can function without its commander.

This is a rule I gleefully break most of the time.

Rune-Tail will automatically flip on turn three in almost all games, and a commander with effects like this make Pariah and other, similar cards downright hilarious. I made and took apart a Rune-Tail deck over a decade ago. It was a terrible mess, but a fun one, and the tech available for it has grown since then. The deck was built around walling up, gaining life and otherwise stalling until a win-condition like Darksteel Reactor or Felidar Sovereign could be triggered. It was a fun idea, but these days I'd probably build Halvar for fun or Sram if I wanted to win.

That's it for this round. Thoughts and questions are welcome. I hope you enjoyed it, and will come back next week for Blue!

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king-saproling on Task Unit Winota

3 months ago

2-drop mana dorks like Iron Myr , Gold Myr , Manakin , Hedron Crawler , Plague Myr , Wily Goblin , and Magda, Brazen Outlaw seem good with Winota since they get her out faster, and then once she's out they can attack to trigger her ability.

You might like these too: Loyal Apprentice , Geist-Honored Monk , Knight-Captain of Eos , Pia and Kiran Nalaar , Attended Knight , Blade Splicer , Gallant Cavalry , Urbis Protector , Master Splicer

Grind on mono w soldiers

4 months ago

Knight-Captain of Eos

DarkKnightCuron on White Soldier Deck for Commander, …

4 months ago

Good Afternoon, Hope everyone is doing well.

I've amassed the following cards for specifically a soldier-themed deck, but I'm having trouble narrowing down the list for an appropriate deck, so I'd like to request advice and assistance. The general idea was to summon a bunch of soldier tokens, buff them, defeat opponents, but I keep stumbling into cards that would be 'cool' or 'awesome' with the theme. Here are the cards I am looking at:

Legendary Cards (Potential Commanders) Akroma, Vision of Ixidor (Synergy with Odric) Baird, Steward of Argive (Good delay) Brimaz, King of Oreskos (Cheap commander that produces soldiers) Darien, King of Kjeldor (decent way of making soldiers, expensive) Keleth, Sunmane Familiar (only for partner) Lena, Selfless Champion Mikaeus, the Lunarch Nahiri, the Lithomancer Odric, Lunarch Marshal Odric, Master Tactician Prava of the Steel Legion Thalia, Heretic Cathar Trynn, Champion of Freedom

Normal Cards Abzan Falconer (synergy with Mikaeus) Adaptive Automaton (buffs soldiers) Ainok Bond-Kin (synergy with Mikaeus) Ancestral Blade (2 for a 2/2 creature seems good, especially if I can re-assign it to Auriok Steelshaper) Angel's Feather (Life gain) Angel's Grace (emergency + synergy with Darien)(Isochron Scepter) Anointed Procession (Double tokens, yes) Anointer Priest (life gain for tokens, seems good) Auriok Steelshaper (seems like good synergy with the equipment in the deck, if they're included. Otherwise, might toss this out) Aven Brigadier (Might toss this) Aysen Crusader (P/T based on soldiers? Yes please) Ballyrush Banneret (cheaper soldier spells) Basri Ket (Synergy with Abzan Falconer and Ainok Bond-Kin)(Produces Soldier Tokens) Benalish Commander (Roundabout way of producing soldiers) Bounty Agent (Neat way of dealing with certain cards) Call the Coppercoats (Produces soldiers) Captain of the Watch (Produces soldiers, buffs soldiers) Captain's Call (Produces soldiers) Catapult Master (Neat way of exiling enemy creatures) Cenn's Enlistment (produces soldiers, retrace) Commanding Presence (roundabout way of producing soldiers) Conclave Phalanx (can easily be a free creature + free life gain) Congregate (good life gain) Conqueror's Pledge (produces soldiers) Coordinated Barrage (meshes with soldiers well. Isochron Scepter) Crusader of Odric (can get really tough and powerful, might be worth cutting though) Daru Stinger (Could be really potent) Daru Warchief (cheaper spells, buffs soldiers, seems good) Dawn of Hope (good synergy with life gains, produces soldiers with lifelink) Daysquad Marshal (produces 1 soldier token, only really good with other buffs/cost reductions) Decree of Justice (mostly just to cycle it) Deploy to the Front (Great way of expanding ranks of soldiers) Devout Invocation (This is basically a win condition) Door of Destinies (buffs soldiers) Elspeth Tirel (makes soldiers, gain life, emergency nuke) Elspeth, Knight-Errant (makes soldiers, indestructable emblem) Elspeth, Sun's Champion (produces soldiers, cool emblem) Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis (makes soldiers or gain life, neat concept) Enlistment Officer (Good way of thinning the deck) Entrapment Maneuver (produces soldiers while protecting yourself, smidge situational) Erase (cheap removal. Isochron Scepter) Evangel of Heliod (produces soldiers, potential for lots of soldiers) Even the Odds (Nice way of getting emergency troops) Fairgrounds Warden (cool removal) Field Marshal (buffs soldiers) Fiend Binder (cool removal) Finale of Glory (basically a win condition) First Response (Nice way of benefitting from small attackers, I think) Garrison Cat (produces 1 soldier token, effectively replacing itself, might be worth cutting) Gideon, Ally of Zendikar (only really here for the emblem and possibly getting buffed on attacks) Gift of Estates (Land is always a problem for me, good deck thinning) Glorious Anthem (buff) God-Favored General (produces soldiers, albeit a bit expensive) Haazda Marshal (neat soldier producer, makes lifelink soldiers) Hero of Bladehold (battlecry + soldier producer, great with Haazda Marshal) Holy Day (defensive spell, Isochron Scepter) Honor of the Pure (buff) Hunted Witness (replaces itself with a soldier, cheap, might cut though) Intangible Virtue (buffs tokens) Intrepid Hero (Great removal, lots of great memories, nostalgic for me, etc) Isochron Scepter (Keep using certain Instants as needed) Join the Ranks (a bit expensive but makes soldiers) Journey to Nowhere (removal) Keeper of the Accord (really cool card, definitely helps with soldiers and lands) Knight-Captain of Eos (basically a holy day by sacrificing a soldier, seems really good) Land Tax (Land is always a problem) Launch the Fleet (produces soldiers, great with Odric, Haazda Marshal, Hero of Bladehold, Brimaz, etc) Leyline of the Meek (Neat little buff) Lieutenants of the Guard (neat mechanic, might cut) Loxodon Partisan (battlecry, might cut) Loyal Sentry (neat concept, cheap) Makeshift Battalion (diet battlecry) Marble Diamond (might be good) Marshal's Anthem (neat card, might be beneficial in a pinch) Martial Coup (great removal + producing soldiers) Mentor of the Meek (card draw from soldiers) Militia Bugler (decent deck-thinning, might cut since its only top four) Militia's Pride (produces soldiers, lots of good synergy) Mobilization (decent buff, built-in soldier producer, tad expensive) Mother of Runes (utility, might cut) Murder Investigation (neat little way of producing soldiers, depends) Ninth Bridge Patrol (neat way of benefitting from tokens getting destroyed) Nomads' Assembly (huge potential) Oath of Lieges (Land is always a problem) Oathsworn Giant (expensive, but decent buff) Oblivion Ring (Removal) Omen of the Sun (produces soldiers, little life gain, scry later, flash, generally good) Palace Guard (cool card) Paragon of New Dawns (buffs soldiers) Path to Exile (Removal) Patrol Signaler (roundabout way of producing soldiers, might cut) Pay No Heed (cheap defense, Isochron Scepter) Pearl Medallion (cheaper spells is always better) Pennon Blade (make something huge, kinda expensive though, might cut) Phantom General (buffs tokens) Precinct Captain (cheap, produces soldiers for attacking, decent synergy) Preeminent Captain (free cast, depending upon circumstances, decent synergy) Proper Burial (decent life gain) Raise the Alarm (cheap soldiers, Isochron Scepter) Ranger of Eos (only useful if I have a lot of cheap creatures) Reborn Hero (neat concept, can bring it back) Rebuff the Wicked (neat counter) Recruit the Worthy (cheap soldiers, Isochron Scepter) Recruiter of the Guard (decent search) Remember the Fallen (might cut, decent card) Resurrection (decent way of bringing back an expensive creature) Return to the Ranks (potentially free method of bringing cards back) Reverent Hoplite (potentially lots of soldiers) Rhox Pikemaster (Decent buff) Righteous Cause (Decent buff, tad expensive) Riot Control (neat life gain, defense) Rootborn Defenses (defense, makes a soldier, neat) Safe Passage (defense) Selfless Squire (interesting utility, might cut) Sergeant-at-Arms (can create soldiers, seems expensive though) Shielded Passage (neat little defense, Isochron Scepter) Sol Ring (obvious reasons) Soul Parry (decent defense, Isochron Scepter) Soul Snare (neat way to keep up devotion + have something on hand to deal with a creature) Soulmender (cheap creature, life gain, might cut) Standing Troops (decent card, might cut) Stormfront Riders (expensive way of producing soldiers, flying, might cut) Strata Scythe (make something huge, might cut) Strength of Arms (decent way of making soldiers, Isochron Scepter) Sword of the Meek (decent way of bringing it back from graveyard, might cut though) Sworn Companions (lifelink soldiers) Terminus (nice clutch card) Thraben Standard Bearer (cheap soldier, can be good for creating defenders in a pinch) Timely Reinforcements (neat for emergencies) True Conviction (huge buff) Unified Strike (exile based on number of soldiers, isochron scepter) Unruly Mob (might cut) Valor (easy way to get first strike) Veteran Armorer (buff, might cut) Veteran Armorsmith (buff, might cut) Veteran Swordsmith (buff, might cut) Veteran's Armaments (decent synergy, might cut) War Report (good life gain) Wing Shards (neat card, might cut) Worship (synergizes with Darien)

Lands Drifting Meadow (cycling) Emeria, The Sky Ruin (awesome card if I can get 7 plains) Karoo (neat little card, not sure if worth it) 28x Plains New Benalia (neat card, not sure if worth it) Nykthos, Shrine of Nyx (white deck, probably a good call) Secluded Steppe (cycling)

Thank you for your time and attention.

jconeil1988 on Jared Our King

6 months ago

Might I suggest Mage Slayer. It's too fun to equip it to Gisela, Blade of Goldnight and hit for 10 to the face, another 10 if they don't have a flyer.

Also, I don't see Idyllic Tutor or Sterling Grove. Any reason why not seeing as they both can grab 25% of the deck.

Bastion Protector and Aegis Angel are fun ways to protect Jared Carthalion, True Heir.

Sigarda, Heron's Grace is sweet, as well as working in tangent creating ways to reuse Knight-Captain of Eos to help protect Monarch.

No Shielded by Faith? You are already running the other half of the combo in Siona, Captain of the Pyleas. Not to mention it also works well with Jared and Pariah pretty much making your life untouchable.

DarkRequiem on

11 months ago

Where's Grand Coliseum?

I'd also advise Sun Droplet and Knight-Captain of Eos.

Helm of Possession could be nice, too.

Evangel of Heliod for even more tokens?

Crow-Umbra on Siona Thee Stallion

11 months ago

wolfsack, I forgot to add Goldnight to my maybe list haha. I could see it as competing with Cathars' Crusade. For now the slight edge goes to Cathar's Crusade since it gives +1/+1 counter buffs, & will make a token army permanently swole over time.

I added Knight-Captain of Eos since the tokens made by Siona are Soldier tokens. As long as I keep pumping out Soldiers, I'll have a repeatable Fog with Knight-Captain. I'll definitely consider it tho. I think Knight-Captain has the potential for repeatable Fog value

wolfsack on Siona Thee Stallion

11 months ago

I'm surprised no Suture Priest.

I think a good include would be Goldnight Commander. It pretty much buffs all your boys infinitely if played right.

I'd honestly cut Knight-Captain of Eos to add Spore Frog. For the cost you pay, I don't think the tokes are worth it. Plus Spore Frog will leave you with mana to cast more enchantments.