Brightmare
Creature — Unicorn
When this creature enters, tap up to one target creature. You gain life equal to that creature's power.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Jumpstart 2022
- Price
- $0.10
- EDHREC rank
- #12266
Brightmare enters the battlefield and taps a creature an opponent controls, then untaps a creature you control — a two-for-one tempo swing stapled to a 2/2 body. The cost is real: three mana for a 2/2 is below rate, and the effect only matters if your opponents have threatening creatures worth locking down. Thurid, Mare of Destiny decks treat Brightmare as a near-staple because the flicker and bounce loops make every enter-the-battlefield trigger a repeatable resource, and Jumbo Cactuar pushes the same archetype from a different angle.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Thurid, Mare of Destiny
Thurid, Mare of Destiny's entire game plan is flickering Horses and Unicorns to chain enter-the-battlefield effects, and Brightmare is one of the best targets in the deck — each bounce resets the tap-and-untap trigger, letting you lock down an opponent's best blocker while keeping your own attacker ready.
Emiel the Blessed
Emiel the Blessed's activated ability flickers any creature for three mana, which means Brightmare's tap-and-untap effect can fire every turn as long as you have the mana — a clean engine for freezing a blocker and freeing your own attacker on a predictable loop.
Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn
Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn cares about life gain, and Brightmare isn't a life gain piece — it shows up here because the deck is already in white and wants bodies that pull double duty as tempo tools alongside the counters engine.
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 |
Brightmare is a Commander card through and through — the tap-and-untap effect scales with the multiplayer board state, where opponents reliably have high-value creatures worth locking down and you reliably have a creature worth freeing up for an attack. In Legacy and Vintage, where it's technically legal, a three-mana 2/2 with a conditional enters-the-battlefield effect has no competitive footing against the speed and power of those formats. Oathbreaker is the one other format where Brightmare can function as intended, particularly in a flicker shell that reuses the trigger. Outside of Commander, there's no realistic home for it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.10 bulk tier
At $0.10, Brightmare is bulk, and bulk rare status usually signals low demand outside its narrow home. It sees consistent inclusion in Thurid, Mare of Destiny decks, but that commander's footprint isn't large enough to push the price — pick it up for nearly nothing and don't expect that to change.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Jumbo Cactuar
- Thurid, Mare of Destiny
- Emiel the Blessed
- Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.