Strongarm Monk
Creature — Human Monk
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Dragons of Tarkir
- Price
- $0.10
- EDHREC rank
- #21617
Strongarm Monk turns every noncreature spell you cast into a free +1/+1 counter on each creature you control — that's a board-wide pump stapled to your normal game actions. Five mana for a 3/3 is the price, and in spell-heavy Commander decks that trigger it repeatedly, the rate is easily worth it.
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 |
Strongarm Monk is a Commander card — the format's longer games and spell-dense strategies give it enough triggers to matter, and it fits cleanly into go-wide decks that cast noncreature spells as part of their core loop. In Modern or Legacy, a five-mana 3/3 with no immediate board impact simply doesn't survive the speed check; those formats demand payoffs that can't wait two turns to prove their worth. Pioneer is theoretically legal but faces the same problem: five mana buys you immediate threats there, not a trigger-dependent accumulator. Strongarm Monk's ceiling is squarely in Commander, where one player casting a handful of spells per turn across a long game turns it into a consistent, low-maintenance anthem effect.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.10 bulk tier
At $0.10, Strongarm Monk is deep bulk — the kind of card you pick up as a throw-in without thinking twice. The price reflects low demand rather than low power; in the right Commander shell it outperforms its cost, and there's no realistic scenario where it appreciates meaningfully.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.