Great Oak Guardian
Creature — Treefolk
Flash (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant.)
Reach
When this creature enters, creatures target player controls get +2/+2 until end of turn. Untap them.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Commander 2015
- Price
- $0.23
- EDHREC rank
- #6642
Great Oak Guardian enters the battlefield and immediately pumps your whole team +1/+1 with reach attached — six mana for a flash creature that can end a combat or untap your board for another activation is the actual offer. The combo ceiling with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and friends makes it a genuine engine piece, and Fangorn, Tree Shepherd decks treat it as a staple for good reason.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Fangorn, Tree Shepherd
Fangorn, Tree Shepherd runs Great Oak Guardian in nearly two-thirds of its builds because the untap effect chains directly into Fangorn's tap ability, letting you generate mana and triggers repeatedly on the same turn.
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds pairs with Great Oak Guardian to untap Selvala herself mid-chain, turning one large creature into a mana engine that can refuel multiple times before the turn ends.
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard tutors Great Oak Guardian at verse counter six and then untaps Yisan, letting you immediately activate again and find the next piece of whatever combo you're assembling.
Emmara, Soul of the Accord
Emmara, Soul of the Accord wants repeated tapping and untapping, and Great Oak Guardian provides the untap effect while also pumping the tokens Emmara keeps generating — two jobs in one card.
Doran, the Siege Tower
Doran, the Siege Tower cares about toughness, and Great Oak Guardian's 3/6 body becomes a respectable attacker in that shell while the +1/+1 pump hits every creature's power through Doran's lens.
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 |
Great Oak Guardian is a Commander card through and through — the flash, the untap effect, and the combat trick all scale in a multiplayer environment where a single activation can break a board stall or enable an infinite loop. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but effectively absent; six mana for a creature with no immediate game-ending impact is far too slow for those formats. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander 60-card-adjacent format where it occasionally appears, again strictly in untap-combo shells. Outside of combo-oriented green Commander decks, there's no real home for Great Oak Guardian.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror BreakerGreat Oak Guardian
Infinite creature tokens with haste; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinitely large creatures you control until end of turn; Infinite untap of creatures you control; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Ghired, Mirror of the WildsGreat Oak Guardian
Infinite ETB; Infinite creature tokens; Infinite untap of creatures you control; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinitely large creatures you control until end of turn
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Temur SabertoothGaea's CradleGreat Oak GuardianVoyaging Satyr
Infinite blinking of some creatures; Infinite ETB; Infinite green mana; Infinite LTB; Infinite storm count; Infinite untap of creatures you control; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinite mana lands you control can produce; Infinitely large creatures you control until end of turn; Infinite untap of lands you control
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
The Jolly Balloon ManGreat Oak Guardian
Infinite LTB; Infinite ETB; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite death triggers; Infinite creature tokens with haste; Infinite untap of creatures you control; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinitely large creatures you control until end of turn
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Orthion, Hero of LavabrinkGreat Oak Guardian
Infinite ETB; Infinite creature tokens with haste; Infinite untap of creatures you control; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinitely large creatures you control until end of turn; Infinite copies of creatures you control with haste
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.23 bulk tier
At $0.23, Great Oak Guardian sits firmly in bulk territory despite being a genuine combo enabler in multiple Commander archetypes. That price is unlikely to move unless a new high-profile untap commander pushes demand — grab copies freely without any budget concern.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.