MagicTheGathering.fyi

Stern Marshal

Creature — Human Soldier

{T}: Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Activate only during your turn, before attackers are declared.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{W}
Color identity
W
Rarity
rare
Set
Portal
Price
$0.70
EDHREC rank
#30917
Buy on TCGplayer
Stern Marshal card art
Stern Marshal puts a free +1/+1 counter on every creature you control whenever you marshal enough mana — that's a persistent, repeatable anthem stapled to a creature body. The real reason it shows up in lists is Necrotic Ooze, which copies the activated ability from the graveyard and turns any black-mana engine into a board-wide pump.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Stern Marshal is a Commander card through and through — the activated ability scales with wide boards and rewards the kind of mana sinks that longer games naturally produce. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but effectively invisible; a four-mana 2/2 with a costly activated ability doesn't compete in formats where the game often ends on turn two or three. Commander is where the Necrotic Ooze interaction gets real mileage, and token or counter-based strategies can drain a mana pool into a lethal alpha strike.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.70 bulk tier

At $0.70, Stern Marshal is firmly bulk — easy to pick up without a second thought. It holds that price floor comfortably as a niche combo enabler rather than a staple, so there's no urgency to buy multiples.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.