Magic’s newest crossover product, Warhammer 40k, is bringing us brand new mechanics and abilities! In this article, I’ll go over everything you need to know about the new Squad mechanic!
Squad is an optional cost that may be paid any number of times. When a creature with Squad enters the battlefield you create a number of Token copies of that creature equal to the number of times you paid the Squad cost.
Squad is one of the craziest abilities we’ve seen enter the Commander format in a while! Naturally, as with any mechanic, there are lots of questions and interactions that arise. Read on for a detailed guide on Squad.
What Is Squad?
Squad is an optional cost. This means you can choose to pay the Squad cost as you cast the card, but you don’t have to. You can, of course, cast a Squad card for its regular mana-cost.
How Does It Work?
As you cast a creature with Squad, you can choose to pay the cost any number of times in addition to the cards regular mana-cost. If you do choose to pay, when that creature enters the battlefield, you get to create one token for every time you paid the extra cost. Those tokens are copies of the original card.
The extra cost can vary from card to card, but the most common cost (actually all of them, so far) is two generic mana. This seems like a pretty fair price to pay for extra copies of your creature.
Let’s take Arco-Flagellant for example. It costs three mana (two and a black) to cast normally. It also has a Squad cost of 2 mana. This means you can pay five mana (three for the regular cost, plus two), and you’ll get two Arco-Flagellants instead of one. And there’s no need to stop there. If you have extra mana, you can continue to pay the cost as many times as you want, and you’ll get an extra copy for every time you pay. Pretty sweet, right?
RELATED: Warhammer 40k Commander Precons – Everything You Need To Know
Rules
- Tokens created by Squad are not “cast”. This means that any effects that trigger upon casting, will not trigger when the tokens come into play.
- If a creature with Squad is countered, the token-creating ability will not trigger.
- If, for some reason, a Squad creature loses the ability before/as it enters the battlefield, the tokens aren’t created even if you paid the extra cost when casting it.
If a creature with Squad Is Countered Do I Still Get Tokens?
No, if an opponent counters your Squad creature, the token ability will not trigger.
RELATED: The Best Budget MTG Commander Decks
Squad Creature Gallery
End Step
Squad is a really exciting and flavorful new ability. Being able to pay extra mana to make multiple copies of a creature seems pretty crazy. This is especially true since all of the creatures we’ve seen so far have other strong abilities too! I think this new mechanic has a good chance to make a big splash in Commander.
Until next time, be sure to check back to here often for all the latest news and updates!
