For better or worse, the mechanically unique cards released via Secret Lair drops are often quite powerful. Sadly, this often exacerbates supply issues with these cards, making them nigh unobtainable and surprisingly easy to forget about. This appears to be what happened to Doric, Nature’s Warden, as despite being incredibly versatile, this card is wildly underplayed in Commander.
MTG Doric, Nature’s Warden
For her enters ability alone, Doric, Nature’s Warden is worth running in a vast majority of green Commander decks. Since she’s not limited to a basic Forest, Doric can fix your mana with ease, finding lands like Spara’s Headquarters or Stomping Ground.
This is often good enough for Doric to support most decks, but Panharmonicon effects like Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines can support this further. From there, flickering Doric with Blink effects like Emiel, the Blessed can load up on Landfall triggers, taking over the game with the likes of Avenger of Zendikar.
If that weren’t enough, Doric also becomes a relevant attacker after transforming, making her a formidable board presence. Doric, Owlbear Avenger’s Legendary Overrun effect can outright end games in legend typal decks like Jodah, the Unifier or Reki, History of Kamigawa. Even if you’re only buffing one other creature, giving Trample to Voltron Commanders like Cloud, Ex-SOLDIER can easily knock an opponent out.
As a bonus, Doric’s creature types all have strong support, making her an auto-include in Bear Commander decks like Kudo, King Among Bears or the new Beorn, the Fierce. Doric’s Druid synergies might be even stronger, with Deeproot Historian giving Doric Retrace, or Seton, Krosan Protector allowing her to tap for mana. Heck, Doric even helps you kidnap all of your opponent’s lands with Gilt-Leaf Archdruid.
Between fixing your lands, ramping, and functioning as a strong attacker, Doric, Nature’s Warden could easily see play in a wide variety of green Commander decks. Despite this, she only appears in around 9,380 decks according to EDHREC. Sadly, while underplayed, Doric is incredibly expensive, with her cheaper in-universe variant selling for almost $14 on average. Even at this price, however, Doric is well worth picking up.
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