Rona, Herald of Invasion // Rona, Tolarian Obliterator (Rona, Herald of Invasion)
UBLegendary Creature — Human Wizard // Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Wizard

Rona, Herald of Invasion // Rona, Tolarian Obliterator

Mana value2EDHREC#3,418

The Commander

Whenever you cast a legendary spell, untap Rona.

{T}: Draw a card, then discard a card.

{5}{B/P}: Transform Rona. Activate only as a sorcery. ({B/P} can be paid with either {B} 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 {5}{B/P} 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 FacesA legendary clone that can copy your best legend and trigger Rona's untap while doubling value engines.
  • Urza's SagaA legendary land providing repeatable looting fuel synergy and a tutor for combo pieces.
  • EntombPairs with looting and graveyard payoffs to set up reanimation targets immediately.
  • ReanimateCashes in the cards Rona discards by returning a huge threat for one mana.
  • Thassa's OracleA 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

  • ReanimatorRona's loot ability bins fatties on demand for cheap reanimation spells.
  • Spellslinger/StormCasting cheap legendary spells repeatedly untaps Rona and chains card selection toward a combo turn.
  • Legendary Tribal/ValueLoading the deck with legends maximizes the untap trigger for relentless filtering.
  • Voltron/AggroTransforming 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.

Related Commanders

Same color identity (BU), by popularity.

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