Alistair, the Brigadier
Legendary Creature — Human Soldier
Whenever you cast a historic spell, create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
Whenever Alistair attacks, you may pay 
. If you do, creatures you control get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of historic permanents you control.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- GUW
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Doctor Who
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #11583
Alistair, the Brigadier turns every creature you control into a counter-distribution engine, spreading +1/+1 counters across your board whenever one of them deals combat damage to a player. The cost is a four-mana legendary Human with no built-in evasion or protection — he needs a supportive shell to survive long enough to matter.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is the natural home for Alistair, the Brigadier — three opponents means three opportunities to trigger his ability in a single combat, and the longer game gives him time to snowball a board of counters into a lethal threat. He fits cleanly into any Sultai, Simic, or four-color counters shell as a value piece rather than a build-around. Legacy and Vintage are technically legal formats for him, but the raw card power ceiling in those environments leaves a four-mana do-nothing-on-entry creature without a viable slot. Oathbreaker could work in a counters-focused build, though the compressed game length cuts into his return on investment.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, Alistair, the Brigadier is deep bulk — buy a playset without thinking about it. Bulk rares with narrow tribal or counters appeal rarely climb on their own, so treat this as a pickup-for-a-deck price rather than a hold.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.