Sunshot Militia
Creature — Human Soldier
Tap two untapped artifacts and/or creatures you control: This creature deals 1 damage to each opponent. Activate only as a sorcery.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
- Price
- $0.18
- EDHREC rank
- #10077
Sunshot Militia enters as a threat that grows every time any player casts a noncreature spell, making it quietly dangerous in spell-dense pods. The cost is that it does nothing the turn it lands and needs a turn to mature — Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator shells sidestep that by generating so much spell activity that Militia can reach threatening size within a single round.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
Malcolm's triggered ability fires on every pirate connecting, and the deck leans hard on instants and sorceries to fuel it — every one of those spells is a free +1/+1 counter on Sunshot Militia. In 34% of these decks, Militia rides that spell volume to become a credible secondary win condition without dedicating any additional resources.
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might replaces small red damage instances with its own power, and Sunshot Militia produces direct damage as it grows — that interaction means counters translate directly into magnified burn. At 18% inclusion, it's a natural fit in a deck that already wants to stack power and punish opponents for every spell cast.
Breeches, Brazen Plunderer // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
Breeches, Brazen Plunderer // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator generates combat steps and spell casts at volume, both of which feed Sunshot Militia's counter engine passively. The pirate shell's aggressive posture means Militia doesn't need to be the primary threat — it just needs to be large enough to close games the main plan cracks open.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Sunshot Militia lands in spell-heavy red or Izzet builds that can guarantee consistent counter accumulation across four players' worth of spell casts — that multiplied input makes the growth rate genuinely threatening rather than incremental. In competitive 1v1 formats like Modern and Pioneer, it's too slow: a 2/2 for two with no immediate impact loses badly to the tempo demands of those environments. Pauper is the one non-Commander format where Sunshot Militia is worth a second look, specifically in spell-heavy prowess-adjacent shells where cheap noncreature spells flow freely. Standard legality is there, but the card's ceiling in that format is fringe sideboard territory at best — the board is too fast for a creature that asks you to cast spells before it matters.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.18 bulk tier
At $0.18, Sunshot Militia is bulk — buy a playset without thinking about it. Bulk rares with narrow applications rarely climb unless a specific deck archetype breaks out, so treat it as a cheap pickup for the decks that want it, not a spec.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
- Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
- Breeches, Brazen Plunderer // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.