Mardu Ascendancy
Enchantment
Whenever a nontoken creature you control attacks, create a 1/1 red Goblin creature token that's tapped and attacking.
Sacrifice this enchantment: Creatures you control get +0/+3 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BRW
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Khans of Tarkir Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #6825
Mardu Ascendancy generates a 1/1 Goblin token every time a nontoken creature you control attacks, then holds a second mode in its back pocket — sacrifice it to give all your nontoken creatures +0/+3 until end of turn as a combat trick. The token generation is the real prize, and in any attack-heavy shell it snowballs fast enough to justify the three-mana investment on turn three.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Isshin, Two Heavens as One
Isshin, Two Heavens as One doubles every attack trigger, which means Mardu Ascendancy spits out two Goblin tokens per attacking creature instead of one — a board that was already threatening becomes geometric in a single combat step.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Mardu Ascendancy is a Commander card first and almost exclusively. The three-color cost is a real constraint in competitive eternal formats — Modern and Legacy have faster, more focused payoffs for token strategies, and the enchantment rarely surfaces in those 60-card lists. Pioneer is the same story: token strategies there want more consistent, lower-to-the-ground engines. In Commander, where a single attack step can involve six or more creatures and where the game goes long enough to recoup the mana investment, Mardu Ascendancy is at its best — the Goblin flood gets out of hand quickly, and the sacrifice mode adds a non-obvious defensive layer that occasionally wins combat math in your favor.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't available at the moment, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the current market rate. Mardu Ascendancy sees enough Commander play — particularly in Isshin, Two Heavens as One builds — that supply stays under pressure, but it's never been a high-dollar card historically.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.