Quick Links
Sonic the Hedgehog, once an icon of gaming, struggled to make the transition into 3D games. His home has always been in two dimensions, so it’s no surprise that he transitions smoothly intoMagic: The Gatheringin the form of an exclusive Secret Lair Drop.
Sonic and his friends come with a variety of interesting abilities to build around, and they’re colored just right to include most of them in a deck with Sonic as the commander. Strap on your Power Sneakers, we’re rolling right into our Sonic the Hedgehog Commander deck.
Sulfur Falls
Treasure Vault
This deck is designed to fit withinBracket 2 (Core), and is specificallydesigned to synergize with all four Sonic charactersincluded in the deck.
The Commander
Sonic the Hedgehog is a2/4 legendary Hedgehog Warrior with hastethat costs one red, one white, one blue, and one generic mana to cast. These colors are more indicative of the character’s color palette than of the character’s nature, but they work well with his abilities.
Sonic hates to wait for others to catch up, so he rewards other speedsters. His first unique ability, “Gotta Go Fast”, allows you toplace +1/+1 counters on all of your creatures with haste or flash whenever Sonic attacks, turning him and his friends into threats that must be answered immediately before they get out of control.
The second ability incorporates Sonic’s near invulnerability as long as he’s holding at least one ring.Whenever Sonic(or another creature you control with haste or flash)takes damage, you’ll get a tapped Treasure token.
That last abilitytriggers each time each creature takes damage. So, if you have seven creatures in play and an opponent uses Blasphemous Act as a boardwipe, you’ll get seven Treasures out of the deal, allowing you to recover quickly from the setback.
While that ability doesn’t prevent creatures from dying, if you include a few ways to deal small amounts of damage to your own creatures,you may use Sonic as a slow mana engine, pinging him when it’s safe to get Treasure to use later.
Building The Deck
Sonic the Hedgehog is a haste-and-flash-matters commander:He rewards you for having a lot of creatures with either flash or haste, which includes Miles “Tails” Prower, Amy Rose, and Knuckles the Echidna.
Creatures with flash can be treated as if they were instants, often with additional effects you’d normally see on that type of card. Countering a spell while getting a body that Sonic will put +1/+1 counters onto can be a big swing, sothese creatures replace a handful of spellsthat would otherwise be included.
More importantly, Sonic can make a bunch of Treasure tokens.When your flashy, hasty creatures take damage, you’ll get a pile of Treasure tokens, representing the way Sonic drops all of his rings when he takes damage in the games.
Sonic’s friends don’t care as much about haste, butthey all care about some kind of artifact. Tails and Amy interact with Vehicles and Equipment, respectively, while Knuckles makes Treasure tokens and adds an alternate win condition once you have 30 artifacts in play.
Leaning into these synergies, this deck includes a lot of artifacts that willramp up your mana base,increase your damage output, andbuff your creatures, all while building towards Knuckles’s alternate win condition.
Ramp
The deck includes a pretty standard mana rock package, including Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and all three available Talismans, butmost of the mana acceleration will usually come from Sonic or Knuckles. To help prevent them from floundering, you can also include a bunch of Treasure-enablers.
Xorn is an excellent Treasure-enabler, effectivelydoubling the number of Treasure cards you geteach time you make them. With Sonic in play, this can net you a huge pile of Treasure in no time flat!
Goldspan Dragon doesn’t double your Treasure, but it doesdouble their mana production.This big boy gives every Treasure you control the ability to make two mana when sacrificed, creates Treasure when it attacks, and has haste so it can get bigger when Sonic attacks.
Professional Face-Breaker shares Knuckles’s ability to make Treasure whenever one of your creatures deals combat damage to a player, and also allows you tosacrifice those Treasures to exile the top card of your library, then play itthat turn if you have the mana.
One flavorful addition to the deck’s mana base is Replicating Ring, which taps for any color of mana andcan make eight more mana rockslate in the game. While it normally takes eight turns, you can speed it up with Kilo, Apogee Mind’s proliferate ability.
Draw
As a Jeskai commander, Sonic has access to blue’s robust draw package. Staples like Brainstorm fit in well, butthis deck is going to lean into draw as a combat payoff, both to encourage aggressive play and to add a little variety to your pod.
Enduring Curiosity is a perfect fit: It has flash, so it can grow as Sonic attacks, and you canplay it after attackers get through before combat damage for a surprise advantageor at the end of your opponent’s turn if you have extra mana. Then, if it dies, it comes right back into play as an enchantment!
Caretaker’s Talent is another good enchantment for this deck. For three mana, it allows you todraw a card each turn that you make a token, which will happen frequently. For one more mana, you can copy any token you control, triggering that effect safely!
Don’t bother upgrading to Level 3, since this deck uses virtually no creature tokens. The only exceptions are Jacked Rabbit and Assemble the Legion, which make a lot of tokens, so feel free to max out Caretaker’s Talent if you control either of those.
Combat Research is a weaker version of Enduring Curiosity’s effect, since it only applies to one creature, butalso gives +1/+1 and Ward 1 to a legendary creature, providing a little protection for your commander. But if possible, put it on Knuckles for that double strike goodness.
Pirate versions of Amy and Knuckles were in the Sonic Prime cartoon, so Jackdaw is both a flavor match and an excellent draw engine, especially when Tails gives it a flying counter. If you have a lot of artifacts in play, it cankeep refilling your hand turn after turn.
Amy’s Armory
Amy Rose’s ability allows you toattach an Equipment to her for free each time she attacks, then buff another creature based on her power. That ability might tempt you to include some Equipment with high equip costs in order to get value, but you should also include lower-cost alternatives for when she isn’t in play.
Amy Rose’s rules textdoesn’t specify that the Equipment you attach to her needs to be your own. You can equip your opponent’s Swiftfoot Boots, pulling them off of their commander so that you can exile or destroy it before they can re-equip on their own turn.
Along with Amy is her trusty Piko Piko Hammer, a reskin of Hammer of Nazahn, which works well with any character. This hammer allows you toequip any Equipment onto a creature as soon as that Equipment comes into play, allowing for wacky interactions with cards like Bloodforged Battle-Axe.
Bloodforged Battle-Axe gives its user a paltry +2/+0, but alsocopies itself when the creature holding it deals combat damage to a player. It has the potential to scale quickly, doubling each turn so that you can both equip all copies and get past blockers.
Whether it’s with Amy’s ability or thanks to her Piko Piko Hammer, equipping the Colossus Hammer can be a game-changer. Not only will Amy get +10/+10,she’ll also give another creature +13/+0. If you can pass that on to Knuckles the Echidna, who has double strike, you’ll create a major threat.
Speaking of double strike, if you cast Brass Knuckles you’ll get two copies, andeach one gives an equipped creature double strikeas long as it has at least two Equipment attached. Give Sonic Brass Knuckles and a Colossus Hammer and you can swing for lethal Commander damage!
Tail’s Garage
While Amy synergizes with Equipment, Miles “Tails” Prower works with Vehicles. Any vehicle that comes into play under your control while Tails is around will either allow you todraw a card if it has flying or will get a flying counter if it doesn’t. But aside from Jackdaw, all the Vehicles you’re using have flying already.
Tornado, Sonic’s Biplane is a reskin of Weatherlight, the airship from Dominaria. It’s a 4/5 with Crew 3, so Tails can fly it, and when it hits a player you canfind an artifact or legendary card from the top five cards in your deck and add it to your hand. There are plenty of cards to choose from, so you’ll usually find something good.
Another massive skyship Tails can crew is Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, a 6/5 flying monstrosity that canblast an opponent’s creature or planeswalker when it enters or attacks. Use this one to clear an opponent’s blockers as you attack, clearing the way for even bigger swings.
The last important Vehicle is the Brotherhood Vertibird, from Fallout. This one haspower equal to the number of artifacts you control. Since this deck has the potential to make a ton of artifacts, this is an ideal late-game win condition that can swing for a ton of damage.
Knuckles’s Treasure Vault
Knuckles is a powerhouse, with haste, trample, and double strike, making it likely thathe’ll get through most of the times that you attack. That’s a big deal, since he gives you Treasure whenever one or more of your creatures deals combat damage to an opponent.
His signature Equipment, Knuckles’s Glove (reskined from The Reaver Cleaver),makes Treasure tokens based on the amount of combat damage dealt to a playerby the holder. On Knuckles, you can potentially generate eight Treasure with each attack.
Knuckles’s second ability is an alternate win condition, allowing you towin the game when you have 30 artifacts. Since the deck has several ways to make Treasure, adding Academy Manufactor can triple your artifact production, allowing you to reach that goal quickly and easily.
Another fun trick to hit Knuckles’s wincon is touse a spell that deals a little damage to all Pokemon. With Sonic and a few other creatures in play, you can use Cinderclasm to make a small mountain of Treasure tokens at the end of your opponent’s turn, leaving them little time to respond.
