
Rona, Herald of Invasion // Rona, Tolarian Obliterator
The Commander
Whenever you cast a legendary spell, untap Rona.
: Draw a card, then discard a card.
: Transform Rona. Activate only as a sorcery. (
can be paid with either
or 2 life.)
Trample
Whenever a source deals damage to Rona, that source's controller exiles a card from their hand at random. If it's a land card, you may put it onto the battlefield under your control. Otherwise, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.
Guide
Gameplan
Deploy Rona turn two and start looting to set up your graveyard and dig toward your engine. With a high legendary count you can untap Rona repeatedly to chain card filtering, then either transform her into a trampling beater or pivot to a graveyard/spellslinger payoff. Most builds use the looting to fuel reanimation or value strategies while building toward a focused combo or storm finish.
Strengths
- Cheap, repeatable card filtering that smooths draws and stocks the graveyard from turn two
- Untap trigger makes Rona effectively free to loot every time you cast a legendary spell
- Color identity (Dimir) gives access to the format's best tutors, removal, and reanimation
- Back side is a resilient trample threat that punishes opponents who try to fight it in combat
Weaknesses
- Front side does nothing on its own to win and is fragile to spot removal
- Transforming costs a hefty
sorcery-speed activation, which is slow
- Loot-only filtering doesn't generate raw card advantage without graveyard payoffs
- Heavily reliant on a critical mass of legendary permanents/spells to exploit the untap
Key Cards
- Sakashima of a Thousand Faces — A legendary clone that can copy your best legend and trigger Rona's untap while doubling value engines.
- Urza's Saga — A legendary land providing repeatable looting fuel synergy and a tutor for combo pieces.
- Entomb — Pairs with looting and graveyard payoffs to set up reanimation targets immediately.
- Reanimate — Cashes in the cards Rona discards by returning a huge threat for one mana.
- Thassa's Oracle — A compact win condition that loves the deck draw/dig and ends games with self-mill or empty library.
Upgrade Path
Lean into fast mana (Mana Crypt, Dark Ritual, Lotus Petal) and premium tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Entomb) to assemble reanimation or combo lines faster. Add more low-cost legendary spells and clones like Phantasmal Image to abuse the untap trigger, and round out with compact wins such as Thassa's Oracle plus Demonic Consultation. Tighten the curve and add interaction (Force of Negation, Mystic Remora) so you can protect your engine in higher-power pods.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Reanimate an oversized threat early and beat down
- ▸Thassa's Oracle / Laboratory Maniac after self-mill or drawing out the deck
- ▸Trampling commander damage from the transformed Rona, Tolarian Obliterator
- ▸Assemble a Dimir combo (e.g., infinite mana into a wincon) enabled by deep filtering
Archetypes
- Reanimator — Rona's loot ability bins fatties on demand for cheap reanimation spells.
- Spellslinger/Storm — Casting cheap legendary spells repeatedly untaps Rona and chains card selection toward a combo turn.
- Legendary Tribal/Value — Loading the deck with legends maximizes the untap trigger for relentless filtering.
- Voltron/Aggro — Transforming Rona yields a trampling threat with a punishing damage trigger for a combat-focused plan.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
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