Baldin, Century Herdmaster
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior
During your turn, each creature assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power.
Whenever Baldin attacks, up to one hundred target creatures each get +0/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of cards in your hand.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Universes Within
- Price
- $0.92
- EDHREC rank
- #3957
Baldin, Century Herdmaster taps your entire creature board to pump one creature by +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the number of creatures tapped this way — a potentially enormous burst of power stapled to a repeatable activated ability. The catch is the tap cost, which shuts off combat for everyone not named the target, and unlike Horobi, Death's Wail or Tadeas, Juniper Ascendant, Baldin asks you to already be ahead on board before the ability does real work.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Tadeas, Juniper Ascendant
Tadeas, Juniper Ascendant rewards attacking with creatures that have power 5 or greater, and Baldin, Century Herdmaster can spike any creature past that threshold on a turn you need the trigger — making Baldin a reliable way to guarantee Tadeas's mana ability fires even off modest boards.
Felothar the Steadfast
Felothar the Steadfast cares about having large numbers of creatures swinging in together, and Baldin, Century Herdmaster's pump can push a single attacker to lethal proportions in a go-wide shell where the tap-down cost matters least because the big hit is already the plan.
Betor, Kin to All
Betor, Kin to All builds a wide creature base across multiple creature types, giving Baldin, Century Herdmaster a deep pool of bodies to tap and a reliable route to massive single-turn damage when Betor's own synergies need a finisher.
Plagon, Lord of the Beach
Plagon, Lord of the Beach generates token-heavy boards that Baldin, Century Herdmaster can drain for a lethal pump, turning what would otherwise be a wide stall into a one-shot threat.
Doran, Besieged by Time
Doran, Besieged by Time already cares about toughness-based combat math, and Baldin, Century Herdmaster slots in as a burst-damage outlet that can close games when the toughness-as-power layer alone isn't enough to push through.
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 |
Baldin, Century Herdmaster is a Commander card through and through — the ability scales with board size in a way that only a 100-card multiplayer format consistently enables. In Legacy and Vintage, where it's technically legal, six mana for a tap-a-bunch sorcery-speed pump effect is nowhere near the power level those formats demand, and creature-heavy aggro strategies have far more efficient tools. Oathbreaker shares some of Commander's go-wide potential but the smaller deck size and faster games make Baldin's setup cost harder to justify. Play it in Commander, full stop.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Horobi, Death's WailBaldin, Century Herdmaster
Destroy up to 100 creatures during each of your turns
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.92 bulk tier
At $0.92, Baldin, Century Herdmaster sits squarely in bulk rare territory, which is about right for a card with a narrow but real niche. It's unlikely to climb without a significant reprint environment shift or a breakout combo deck, so grab copies cheaply if the archetype calls for it and don't expect the price to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.