Danny Pink
Legendary Creature — Human Soldier Advisor
Mentor (Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on target attacking creature with lesser power.)
Creatures you control have "Whenever one or more counters are put on this creature for the first time each turn, draw a card."
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Doctor Who
- Price
- $13.98
- EDHREC rank
- #2766
Danny Pink turns every creature death into a +1/+1 counter distribution engine, letting your whole board grow whenever anything dies — yours or your opponents'. At three mana with a relevant Human Soldier body, the cost is low enough that he pulls his weight before he ever triggers.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Me, the Immortal
Me, the Immortal is in over half of Danny Pink's shells because both cards reward creature deaths with board-wide growth — Danny Pink's counters stack directly on top of Me's own triggered scaling, turning each death into a compounding advantage event.
Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra
Danny Pink fits the Doctor Who tribal identity that Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra wants, and the counter accumulation lines up cleanly with a strategy that already cares about keeping creatures alive and growing the board state.
Marchesa, the Black Rose
Marchesa, the Black Rose thrives on creatures dying and returning, and Danny Pink's trigger fires on every death in that loop — counters accumulate quickly when your own creatures are cycling in and out under Marchesa's protection.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog decks care deeply about counter accumulation and spreading +1/+1 counters across the team, which makes Danny Pink a natural fit as a passive engine that grows the board without requiring any extra mana investment.
Tidus, Yuna's Guardian
Tidus, Yuna's Guardian strategies lean on +1/+1 counters to trigger secondary effects, and Danny Pink feeds that engine passively from the command zone's shadow — every opponent's board wipe or combat trade becomes free counters for your team.
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 format Danny Pink was built for — a multiplayer game where creatures die constantly means his trigger fires multiple times per turn cycle, and the political dimension of growing from opponents' deaths makes him quietly threatening without drawing immediate hate. In Legacy and Vintage he's technically legal but competes in environments where a three-mana 2/2 with a conditional trigger is too slow and too fragile to matter. Oathbreaker offers the same multiplayer dynamic as Commander at a smaller scale, and he's playable there in any shell that can use the counters. Outside those formats he's ineligible, and honestly that's the right call — the design is a multiplayer value card through and through.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Cathars' Crusade does similar work spreading +1/+1 counters on creature deaths and enters triggers, though it costs more mana and only fires when your own creatures enter rather than on any death — it's a different angle on the same payoff. Valor in Akros and Juniper Order Ranger are cheaper options that reward creature events with counters, but neither matches Danny Pink's passive any-death scope, so expect a meaningful drop in raw counter output if you swap down.
Price Context
Current price
$13.98 mid tier
At $13.98, Danny Pink sits in the mid tier — notable for a card with no competitive format presence, driven entirely by Commander demand in Doctor Who and counter-based shells. The price is defensible if you're building one of his top commander pairings, but if you're just looking for a generic death-trigger counter spreader, there are functional alternatives at a fraction of the cost.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Me, the Immortal
- Jenny Flint // Madame Vastra
- Marchesa, the Black Rose
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Tidus, Yuna's Guardian
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.