Generous Gifts - It’s all about tokens!
Simply put, tokens are everywhere in Commander. So many cards spit them out these days that it can be difficult to keep track of your board state while playing if you aren’t properly prepared to do so. This can be exacerbated even further when an opponent is playing cards that create tokens under your control.
In this article, I’ll be going over some of the cards that create tokens under the control of other players in order to create an easy list of tokens that you can have ready to assist you when playing with other people on SpellTable (or in person). I’ll also include a few reminder cards for common effects that are played in Commander.
Author’s note: This isn’t an exhaustive list, but rather one that contains some of the most popular examples. I’d also like to point out that I’m a big fan of dry-erase tokens and assure you that we’ll discuss them during the article!
Forbidden Orchard (Champions of Kamigawa)
Lands that tap for all colors and enter the battlefield untapped aren’t exactly easy to come by. In fact, you might even be willing to give your opponent a 1/1 Spirit token in exchange! Forbidden Orchard remains a popular card because giving an opponent a 1/1 in a format where you start with 40 life is often inconsequential.
Dovescape (Dissension)
This card can be frustrating to play against, but it’s not nearly as frustrating as playing on SpellTable with people who represent their tokens with dice and other confusing objects! You’ll probably want to have a few of these Bird tokens on hand because Dovescape is a popular card in control decks in Commander.
Pongify (Planar Chaos)
There was a period of time where blue was occasionally given the ability to destroy a creature by polymorphing it into something else. In this case, you can help your opponent’s best creature channel its inner ape. I’m pretty sure that there’s even a popular meme for this concept.
Crib Swap (Lorwyn)
Despite the look of concern on the kithkin’s face, this 1/1 Shapeshifter token seems to have grown up into a fine, upstanding citizen. All’s well that ends well, I say. You can use this spell to exile a creature and create your own memorable origin story for the token that you give to your opponent.
Plague of Vermin (Shadowmoor)
This card is often used as a finisher in decks led by Ayara, First of Locthwain, but it can also be used to create a bunch of Rat tokens. I’ve seen it create more than 100 Rat tokens a few times, so you’ll want to make sure that you have plenty of tokens to go around to accurately represent the board state.
Beast Within (New Phyrexia)
While it’s a bit of a stretch to fit this card into green’s color pie these days, it has gone on to be a popular staple and has been reprinted several times. Giving your opponent a 3/3 vanilla creature in exchange for their best permanent is usually a pretty favorable exchange. Beast Within even hits lands!
Note: The 3/3 green Beast creature token is also created by Sawtusk Demolisher.
Rapid Hybridization (Gatecrash)
This card is essentially a functional reprint of Pongify. The Simic Combine is all about self-improvement through evolution. Frogs and lizards are both pretty cool, so you’ll probably be doing your opponent a favor by giving them a 3/3 Frog Lizard token in exchange for their boring, everyday creature.
Note: The 3/3 green Frog Lizard creature token is also created by Incubation//Incongruity.
Akroan Horse (Theros)
This card is sometimes used with commanders like Darien, King of Kjeldor and Brimaz, King of Oreskos. You actually give it to an opponent and then you and the other opponents each create a 1/1 Soldier token on each of that opponent’s upkeeps. This can be a fun political mini-game in casual Commander.
Swan Song (Theros)
This counterspell requires you to give your opponent a 2/2 Bird in exchange for countering their enchantment, instant, or sorcery spell. In a format with spells such as Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift, and Triumph of the Hordes, that certainly seems like an exchange that will work out in your favor more often than not!
Tempt with Vengeance (Commander 2013)
This card is a lot of fun, but it can be hard to keep track of all of these 1/1 Elemental tokens. Fortunately, this card is more likely to show up as a way to close out the game in a deck using cards like Purphoros, God of the Forge and Goblin Bombardment to close out the game by dealing damage directly to your opponents.
Reality Shift (Fate Reforged)
Exiling a creature for 2 mana in blue is pretty good, especially if your opponent just has to manifest the top card of their library. More often than not, this won’t wind up being a problem, but they might occasionally flip a scary creature that was manifested. It’s helpful to be able to differentiate manifested cards from other face-down objects in the game.
Rite of the Raging Storm (Commander 2015)
This card makes for an interesting mini-game by creating a 5/1 Lightning Rager token for each player on their turn. This can help you get life totals down while you have fun passing the token around the table. You’re always protected from the tokens, so it seems like the risk doesn’t outweigh the fun to be had with this card.
Queen Marchesa (Conspiracy: Take the Crown)
The second Conspiracy set introduced the monarch mechanic, and this mechanic has since appeared in other sets. Marchesa is the most popular monarch card and a popular commander choice, so you’ll probably see monarch from time to time. It remains in effect even if the original monarch leaves the game.
Goblin Spymaster (Commander 2016)
This little guy is happy to help you force your opponents into poor combat situations by creating 1/1 Goblin tokens that force your opponents to attack. You’ll just want to be aware that this is not like goad—your opponents are still able to attack you as well! This is still a good way to force your opponents’ utility creatures to die in combat.
Curse of Disturbance (Commander 2017)
This card can be used politically to allow yourself and others to amass an army of zombies by attacking the archenemy (or just the player who you wanted out of the game first). You’ll probably need a lot of 2/2 Zombie tokens in order to keep up with the board state if you play this card.
Note: The 2/2 black Zombie creature token is also created by other cards such as Awaken the Erstwhile and Curse of Shallow Graves.
Curse of Opulence (Commander 2017)
Much like Curse of Disturbance, this card can be used to level the playing field with someone who has become a clear threat, except with Gold tokens instead. You could even use a bunch of these curse cards to create a curse-themed deck with Lynde, Cheerful Tormenter.
Hungry Lynx (Commander 2017)
If you’re playing Arahbo, Roar of the World, this card seems like an ideal way to keep your cats fed. Giving an opponent a 1/1 Rat token with deathtouch doesn’t matter much when all of your casts have protection from rats. This is an easy way to grow your army because the tokens will usually die while blocking other creatures.
Dowsing Dagger//Lost Vale (Ixalan)
The nice thing about this card’s downside is that you can give the 0/2 Plant tokens to a player who you don’t intend to attack in order to more easily flip this card into Lost Vale! Giving someone a few free blockers is a pretty good way to earn an ally during a friendly game of Commander.
Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor (Commander 2018)
Varchild is a unique card on this list—she creates tokens for your opponents, but she’ll actually allow you to get them back if she leaves the battlefield! She can lead to interesting games of Commander because this effect is actually quite unique. You’ll probably want a lot of these tokens if you play Varchild.
Generous Gift (Modern Horizons)
This color-shifted Beast Within allows you to give your opponent a present in exchange for destroying a problematic permanent. My only criticism of this card is that it doesn’t create a white Elephant token, but it’s understandable for them to want to use a token that’s already created by a few other cards.
Note: The 3/3 green Elephant creature token is also created by Terastodon.
Chandra, Awakened Inferno (Core Set 2020)
This uncounterable planeswalker gives emblems to opponents. These pesky emblems are owned by the opponent, which means that they remain even if Chandra’s controller leaves the game! They can also be stacked if the ability is used multiple times, which means that tracking them can require some effort.
Grismold, the Dreadsower (Commander 2019)
Grismold just wants to help your opponents deepen their appreciation for gardening. Unfortunately, his lack of a green thumb means that most of these 1/1 Plant tokens will probably wind up dying in order to put +1/+1 counters on him! He’s trying his best, so I hope that your opponents can forgive him.
Skyclave Apparition (Zendikar Rising)
This card’s unique design avoids the pitfalls of classic white Oblivion Ring designs by permanently exiling a nonland permanent with a mana value of 4 or less. If Skyclave Apparition later leaves the battlefield, they get the Illusion token. If you exile a commander, your opponent won’t get anything if they return if to the command zone!
Ravenform (Kaldheim)
While its ability to remove artifacts was a bit controversial, we can likely all agree that a 1/1 Bird is much less threatening than something like a Blightsteel Colossus. You can assuage your opponent’s concerns by reminding them that Ravenform’s flavor involves transforming its target, so it’s still around. It’s just much flappier now.
Resculpt (Strixhaven: School of Mages)
Art is subjective, but there’s no doubt that many artifacts or creatures are more dangerous than a 4/4 Elemental token. While you’re likely to face criticism from your peers, it’s all down to a difference of opinions. A true artist knows that you can’t please everyone all of the time.
Oversimplify (Commander 2021)
This board wipe lives up to its name by cleaning up congested board states and giving each player a single Fractal token. This can will often be better than facing down an entire army of creatures, especially since the token has no evasion and even a huge token can easily be handled by a single targeted removal spell if it comes your way.
Fateful Absence (Innistrad: Nidnight Hunt)
This spell can destroy a creature or a planeswalker for just 2 mana. I’d say that your opponent won’t know what hit them, except that you’ll be leaving behind evidence in the form of a Clue token! Oh well—at least your opponent won’t be completely clueless after you cast this spell!
Note: The colorless Clue artifact token is also created by Will the Wise/Wernog, Rider’s Chaplain.
Vadrik, Astral Archmage (Innistrad: Midnight Hunt)
Vadrik is one of many cards that causes the game to start tracking the Day//Night cycle. It’s important to remember that this is a persistent effect without a specific owner, so it will continue for the remainder of the game, even if Vadrik’s owner leaves the game. This mainly impacts cards that also care about the Day//Night cycle.
Note: Many other cards cause the Day//Night cycle to start. A lot of them are werewolves.
Note: The colorless Treasure artifact token is also created by other cards such as Jolene, the Plunder Queen and Tempting Contract.
An Offer You Can’t Refuse (Streets of New Capenna)
If you’re just not having good luck with politics and deal-making in a Commander game, you can always just force your opponent to take your bribe and counter a strong noncreature spell in exchange for a couple of Treasure tokens. Giving your opponent mana isn’t always ideal, but it can be preferable to the alternative.
Contraband Livestock (Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate)
Your opponents are in for a barnyard of fun if you cast this spell. You’ll need to roll a D20 in order to figure out which token that the spell is creating, so you’ll want to make sure that you have one on hand. The tokens for this spell are so cute that I wouldn’t even be mad if I was forcibly involved in an illicit livestock operation.
Note: The 3/3 green Boar creature token is also created by Curse of the Swine. The 0/1 white Goat creature token is also created by Ovinomancer.
Seasoned Dungeoneer (Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate)
There are a whole host of cards that introduce the initiative mechanic into the game. This means that you may be forced to venture into the Undercity dungeon even if you’re not the one playing these cards! The Undercity dungeon also produces a 4/1 Skeleton creature token that you might want to have on hand.
Note: Initiative requires a lot of bookkeeping and many cards bring it into the game.
As you can see, there are quite a few tokens and reminder cards that you might encounter while playing a game of Commander. This isn’t even every single card that produces tokens under another player’s control. It can definitely be hard to keep track of all of these things and I know what you’re thinking right now…
What if you’re playing cards that just don’t have official tokens or you want to get creative and draw your own? There are a lot of options for doing this—you can even print out your own tokens with custom art. The only limit is your own creativity!
I feel obligated to recommend InfiniTokens Dry Erase Tokens for the folks who want to show off their art skills during games on SpellTable or at your local game store. While I enjoy collecting official tokens and reminder cards, I believe that using InfiniTokens is the easiest way to keep track of the hundreds of different types of tokens that you’ll encounter in Commander.
What are your favorite cards that allow you to give your opponents tokens? Please let us know on Twitter! We’d also love to see your finest InfiniTokens drawings. However you choose to keep track of your tokens, we hope that you agree that keeping your battlefield neat and tidy on SpellTable makes for a better experience.
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This article is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
