Last time, we built barbarian, the big, angry, stupid class. This time, our Dungeons & Dragons class Commander deck is totally different. We’re looking at the bard class.
Bards focus on charisma and performance, and in combat are mostly about support. They’re quite versatile in that role, offering buffs to the party and debuffs to enemies. Some spells are available, so they aren’t completely powerless in a fight, but they certainly aren’t going to be rushing into battle either.
This is almost certainly the hardest class to pin down in color or flavor. Bards in Magic have tended to be green, and the recent Bard Class card was red-green which for me, is not a great flavor fit. Green is okay-ish for a bard, but they definitely have some white for the buffs and debuffs (Elesh Norn is a bard, confirmed) and blue for their intelligence, charisma and spellcasting.
That means, to me, bards are Bant. Green, white and blue. That means Yisan, the Wanderer Bard is out. Sorry to the only actual legendary bard in the game, but this is about the flavor of being a bard in D&D, not in Magic: the Gathering.
The bard who leads your 99 should be able to buff those around them, or otherwise inspire your squad to greatness in the fight against your opponents. I don’t think its group hug, which is a Bant staple, more buffs within your 99, who act as your party. Imagine trying to schedule that many players. I struggle with four.
Bards also lull opponents to sleep or convince them to join your side of the fight with their smooth, fast-talking charisma, so that’s another option to try capture the bardic flavor. We won’t get into the bard players who think they need to seduce everything they meet. Stop it, you lot.
What we want with a bard is a storyteller or a singer that uses their ability to help those around them and hinder enemies, then. There are two options in Bant. Chulane, Teller of Tales, makes a great commander for a creature deck and is quite powerful when built well.
Chulane has two problems – he’s a Druid, and he doesn’t really capture the bard class all that well.
That leaves us with one option, and luckily, it’s a good one. Rubinia Soulsinger.
Her tap ability basically makes her Dominate Monster on a stick. Perfect already, but she’s also a singer, using her voice to control enemies. That’s absolutely perfect. There are some other choices, but it’s very, very hard to look past Rubinia in the bard role.
If you must though, you can look at some creatures that offer buffs to your team like Trostani Discordant or Emmara Tandris in green-white, and Denry Klin, Editor in Chief, in blue-white. Denry is also an editor which just about fits the bard flavor. Just.
Of course, you can use Yisan too. He’s strong, he’s fun to play and he can be built in a lot of ways, he’s just not a D&D bard. I think he goes in the 99 with Inspiring Bard, Elvish Bard and Instrument of the Bards.
Adding more musical instruments to build the theme is easy with Elven Lyre and Entrancing Lyre fitting the theme, and Citanul Flute being extremely useful. Bone Flute offers a classic bard debuff too.
Some more musical cards that fit the theme include Angelsong, Song of Freyalise, Song of Inspiration, Song of the Dryads, Titania’s Song and Swan Song. All together, you have a really flavorful deck and can fill the rest out with some strong creatures and spells to fit your vision of a bard.
