Best Starter Commanders – Lyra Dawnbringer

Have you ever felt the overwhelming need to overcome and defeat your Commander playgroup with a horde of Angels?

We assume it’s called a horde. Flock would be the other option that comes to mind and that makes it sound like they’ll be trying to snatch food from you instead of smiting you. Anyway, let’s talk about Angel tribal.

Meet your commander

Lyra Dawnbringer Lyra Dawnbringer Flying
First strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.)
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
Other Angels you control get +1/+1 and have lifelink. is a five-mana mono-white 5/5 with flying, first strike, and lifelink. They also grant all other Angels you control +1/+1 and lifelink. Now, that’s all a lot of stuff, but the key thing here is that they can hold their own in a fight, and that they’re going to be giving you a lot of life, especially in an Angel tribal deck.

The key thing here is to make sure you’re going as all-in on the tribal idea as possible, but also that you look after Lyra. While they’re not essential to keeping your deck running, they do a good enough job of boosting your side of the field that looking after them should be high up on how you build your deck.

So, let’s dive into the best creatures for Lyra, along with the best support cards for this strategy.

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Best creatures for Lyra

Let’s talk about protecting Lyra first. Sephara, Sky’s Blade Sephara, Sky’s Blade You may pay {W} and tap four untapped creatures you control with flying rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Flying, lifelink
Other creatures you control with flying have indestructible. (Damage and effects that say "destroy" don't destroy them.) is a seven-mana 7/7 with flying and lifelink that you can actually pay one mana for if you tap four untapped flying creatures you control to cast. Along with that, they grant your other flying creatures indestructible, which is a very strong starting point for any protection suite. Breathkeeper Seraph Breathkeeper Seraph Flying, soulbond (You may pair this creature with another unpaired creature when either enters. They remain paired for as long as you control both of them.)
As long as Breathkeeper Seraph is paired with another creature, each of those creatures has "When this creature dies, you may return it to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of your next upkeep." is another good choice, as it allows you to bring creatures back from the graveyard as long as it’s soulbond with them.

In terms of other utility creatures, one of the best is Herald of War Herald of War Flying
Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Angel spells and Human spells you cast cost {1} less to cast for each +1/+1 counter on this creature. . This five-mana 3/3 gets a +1/+1 counter on it whenever it attacks. What’s even better though, is that both your Angel spells and your Human spells cost one less to cast for each +1/+1 counter on it. With that in mind, Archangel of Thune Archangel of Thune Flying
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. is also a banger, as it’ll give all of your creatures +1/+1 counters when you gain life.

As life is an easy thing to come by in this deck, we also really like Resplendent Angel Resplendent Angel Flying
At the beginning of each end step, if you gained 5 or more life this turn, create a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying and vigilance.
{3}{W}{W}{W}: Until end of turn, this creature gets +2/+2 and gains lifelink. and Valkyrie Harbinger Valkyrie Harbinger Flying
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
At the beginning of each end step, if you gained 4 or more life this turn, create a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying and vigilance. , both of which are happy to create more Angels whenever you gain enough life in a turn. Remember, each of those tokens then also gets +1/+1 and lifelink, so this snowballs a lot. Finally, we’ve got Righteous Valkyrie Righteous Valkyrie Flying
Whenever another Angel or Cleric you control enters, you gain life equal to that creature's toughness.
As long as you have at least 7 life more than your starting life total, creatures you control get +2/+2. , a three-mana 2/4 that allows you to gain life whenever an Angel or Cleric enters the battlefield under your control, and it grants your creatures +2/+2 as long as you’ve got enough life.

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Best support cards for Lyra

Angelic Accord Angelic Accord At the beginning of each end step, if you gained 4 or more life this turn, create a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying. does a good job of making more Angels, which is ideal. The Book of Exalted Deeds The Book of Exalted Deeds At the beginning of your end step, if you gained 3 or more life this turn, create a 3/3 white Angel creature token with flying.
{W}{W}{W}, {T}, Exile The Book of Exalted Deeds: Put an enlightened counter on target Angel. It gains "You can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game." Activate only as a sorcery. also does the same, but doubles as a mini Platinum Angel in a pinch too, which can be a big deal if you’re actually looking as though you may lose.

The other main issue that Angels have is that they can be rather costly on the mana front. As a result, a lot of the best support cards for Lyra help to bring those costs down. Oketra’s Monument Oketra’s Monument White creature spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
Whenever you cast a creature spell, create a 1/1 white Warrior creature token with vigilance. is a three-mana artifact that makes your white spells cost one less to cast, and brings creature tokens with them when you do so. Herald’s Horn Herald’s Horn As this artifact enters, choose a creature type.
Creature spells you cast of the chosen type cost {1} less to cast.
At the beginning of your upkeep, look at the top card of your library. If it's a creature card of the chosen type, you may reveal it and put it into your hand. is also three mana, and it allows you to lower the cost of your angels specifically, and occasionally draw an extra card too.

Then you’ve got Radiant Destiny Radiant Destiny Ascend (If you control ten or more permanents, you get the city's blessing for the rest of the game.)
As this enchantment enters, choose a creature type.
Creatures you control of the chosen type get +1/+1. As long as you have the city's blessing, they also have vigilance. , which will make your creatures bigger and give them vigilance too. We also really like Boon Reflection Boon Reflection If you would gain life, you gain twice that much life instead. , which doubles the amount of life you gain, which is going to keep you safe from nearly every threat you might face in Commander. There are plenty of other cards you can add to this deck, but all of these should give you a strong skeleton to work with.

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