Is Tree of Redemption good in Commander?

Tree of Redemption

Creature — Plant

Defender
: Exchange your life total with this creature's toughness.

CMC: 4
Mana cost
Color identity: G
Rarity: mythic
Set: Innistrad
Price: $3.30
EDHREC rank: #3404

Tree of Redemption swaps your life total for its toughness — a 13-toughness wall on turn four that can reset you to 13 life at any moment is a back-breaking political and survival tool. Commanders like Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl that inflate toughness turn that 13 into a much scarier number, and Felothar the Steadfast treats the ability as a repeatable life-padding engine that fuels his own triggers.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

Felothar the Steadfast

86.6% of decks · synergy 0.75

Felothar the Steadfast runs Tree of Redemption in over 86% of decks because the life-swap ability directly resets your life total to fuel Felothar's gain-life triggers, creating a repeatable loop of life padding and payoffs.

Betor, Kin to All

65.9% of decks · synergy 0.54

Betor, Kin to All pairs with Tree of Redemption because copying creatures with high toughness — or the Tree itself — multiplies the life-swap leverage and the defensive board presence Betor wants.

Arcades, the Strategist

52.9% of decks · synergy 0.49

Arcades, the Strategist turns Tree of Redemption into a 0-power attacker that swings for 13 damage through his draw-on-attack and power-equals-toughness combat rules, making the Tree a genuine win condition rather than just a life reset.

Venom, Deadly Devourer

44.9% of decks · synergy 0.45

Venom, Deadly Devourer uses Tree of Redemption as a high-toughness body that survives combat reliably and can be sacrificed or exploited for poison-delivery strategies where having extra life to spend is a meaningful resource.

The Pride of Hull Clade

40.5% of decks · synergy 0.40

The Pride of Hull Clade buffs creatures based on toughness, so Tree of Redemption's baseline 13 toughness immediately qualifies it as one of the biggest beneficiaries of that scaling anthem effect.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

Format	Verdict
commander	legal
legacy	legal
modern	legal
pioneer	not legal
standard	not legal
vintage	legal
pauper	not legal
oathbreaker	legal

Commander is where Tree of Redemption does its best work — multiplayer life totals at 40 make resetting to 13 a genuine cost, which means the political threat of doing it is often more valuable than the act itself, and toughness-matters commanders convert it into a finisher. In Legacy and Vintage, the Tree is legal but competes in environments too fast and too hostile to removal for a four-mana do-nothing-on-arrival enchantment creature to matter. Modern has moved well past the point where Tree of Redemption can keep up with the format's speed or the power level of dedicated life-gain and creature strategies. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander — life-reset as a repeated ability is strong in 20-life formats, though the smaller game count makes it more reliable to actually land.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

8 decks