Playing a game ofMagic: The Gatheringis something of a ritual in itself. We sit down, exchange greetings, and draw a series of cards; stopping there, you would be forgiven for thinking we were describing a seance rather than a card game. It’s fitting that Alharu, Solemn Ritualist, is a powerful choice for a commander in the game’s premier multiplayer format.
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Of course, given that the Spirits have blessed them with the partner ability, Alharu doesn’t need to face your foes alone: You can choose any other legendary creature with a partner to accompany them on the battlefield.
Alharu, Solemn Ritualist
Before we get into the Spirit of things, let’s quickly look at Alharu’s stats and abilities. At a base level, they’re a 3/3 Human Monk for five mana: a poor stat ratio, even when you factor in a solid creature type in Human. Thankfully, this is balanced out by Alharu bringing in two +1/+1 counters, provided you have at least two other creatures in play to receive them.
Now comes the good part. Whenever a nontoken creature you control with a +1/+1 counter dies, you get a 1/1 Spirit with flying. This opens up many deckbuilding avenues, from Aristocrats to White Weenie, and rewards you handsomely for playing a counter-focused deck.
10Dargo, The Shipwrecker
Serving as both a sacrifice outlet and a sacrifice beneficiary, Dargo is a powerhouse partner for Alharu that opens up a range of Boros (red/white) and artifact strategies. Since Alharu offers benefits when your creatures die, you’ll have no problem feeding a few of them to this hungry Giant, safe in the knowledge that their Spirits will return to bolster your ranks in their place.
Dargo also receives his cost reduction effect when you sacrifice creatures and artifacts to other effects, meaning he slots nicely into an existing sacrifice shell too. Factor in his not-insignificant 7/5 trampling body, and you have aperfect piratical partner.
9Sengir, The Dark Baron
One ofMagic’s most iconic villains, Baron Sengir was a fan favourite back in 1995, and his legacy of darkness lives on in his Commander Legends incarnation, Sengir, the Dark Baron. Starting off as a 4/4 flyer for six, this voracious Vampire can quickly grow to absurd size thanks to his ability, which grants two +1/+1 counters whenever any creature, tokens included, dies.
This can lead to a truly colossal creature, as both the creatures you sacrifice and the Spirit tokens Alharu creates count towards this ability. It only takes nine creature deaths to allow Sengir to deal lethal commander damage in one swing, which is easy to achieve when you throw in some removal and table-encompassing edict effects.
8Reyhan, Last Of The Abzan
An incredibly synergistic partner for Alharu, Reyhan lets you maintain value over time by moving the counters from your deceased creatures onto new hosts. This pairs up nicely with Alharu’s counter placement effect, as well as their Spirit summoning effect.
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With both partners out, a creature dying with a counter will not only net you a 1/1 Spirit, but will also let you place the counter on another creature, setting it up to produce another Spirit when its time comes. You can even shift all your counters over to one Spirit token in a pinch, which can be a nice way to close out a game against an opponent with no air force of their own.
7Slurrk, All-Ingesting
Slurrk and Alharu, despite their vast superficial differences, actually have a lot in common. Specifically, their shared love of +1/+1 counters and creatures dying. Coming down with five counters itself, Slurrk rewards the same trigger as Alharu, granting you extra counters whenever one of your encountered creatures meets its end.
This can lead to some significant buffs over a long game, particularly if you may place counters on your Spirit tokens to get the ball rolling on Slurrk’s ability. With the two working together, you can put together a crack squad of slime-encrusted Spirits that will blot out the sky with their sheer size and strength.
6Tevesh Szat, Doom Of Fools
A serious boon for anyAristocrats-style Alharu build, Tevesh Szat lets you turn those free Spirit tokens into cold hard cards. This interaction alone is enough to recommend him as a partner, but his other abilities push things even further.
Creating Thrull tokens to gum up the board is a great stall tactic, and it accelerates you toward his powerful ultimate ability in short order. From here, you may seize control of every commander in the game and cheat out Alharu if they’re still on the bench in one huge power play.
5Radiant, Serra Archangel
Flyers with built-in protection have a long history of closing out games, particularly when they can do so in just a few hits, thanks to commander damage. Radiant’s protection effect is powerful but fickle, stopping most interaction at the cost of tapping a creature with flying.
In some decks, this will be tricky to do, but not in an Alharu deck. Thanks to the constant stream of Spirits they’ll be putting out, you’ll always have access to a quick protective shield when needed, freeing you up to buff Radiant and swing for the win.
4Nadier, Agent Of The Duskenel
A neat way of leaning into a go-wide token theme with Alharu, Nadier grows in strength whenever one of your ‘real’ creatures or Spirits leaves play, then redistributes that power in the form of Elf tokens when he crosses over himself.
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With these two working in tandem, you can easily build up a huge army in a matter of turns, then drop an Overrun effect or two to wipe out an unsuspecting opponent. Alternatively, you can keep him around as insurance against a low-impact board wipe like Pyroclasm.
3Siani, Eye Of The Storm
They say the eye of the storm is the most peaceful part, but peace is the last thing your opponents will be getting once Siani hits the scene. Granting a scaling card selection effect based on how many flyers you have in play, Siani pairs perfectly with Alharu’s Spirit generation, letting you dig deep into your deck every combat step.
This selection will let you grab whatever the situation demands, be it a board wipe, counterspell, or Anthem effect. The addition of blue to your deck also opens the door for otherflying-based synergiesand powerful disruptive plays.
2Keskit, The Flesh Sculptor
While Keskit’s exchange rate of three cards in play for two in hand calls to mind the old adage about birds and bushes (in a bad way), Alharu balances the loss out nicely by throwing in up to three Spirit tokens as a sweetener. This allows you to have your cake and eat it, too, in a sacrifice-focused take on the strategy.
You can use the post-sacrifice Spirits to maintain presence on the board, or you can sacrifice them to Keskit’s ability next turn, doubling up on value and netting a one-card profit in the process. With shrewd deals like that, you can grind your opponents out in no time.
1Kamahl, Heart Of Krosa
When it comes to turning your collection of 1/1 spirits from Alharu into a legitimate threat on the board, Kamahl may just be the best man for the job. Despite costing a not-inconsiderable eight mana to cast, he gets to work right away, buffing all of your creatures by +3/+3 at the start of combat.
While opponents may be able to shrug off the damage from 1/1 Spirits, they won’t be able to do so quite as easily when they’re crashing in as 4/4s. Throw in a land animation ability with some fringe finisher applications, and you have the perfect partner for when the party’s over.
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