What even is a Soldier?

When it comes to Magic: The Gathering? My recommendation is to not think about it too hard. Like without looking can you tell me what the creature type of any of these characters is?

Their names probably tipped you off. White Knight is in fact a Knight. And Warrior en-Kor is a Warrior.

But what is particularly clerical about attacking really well but not blocking hardly at all? Both Soltari Priest and Soltari Monk are Clerics. Thematically they're more evasive takes on the classic White Knight model that have the opposite of the original's efficient combat skills.

How about Kor Firewalker?

Surely gaining life is kinda sorta clerical? Nope. And this is a spoiler for later in the article: Kor Firewalker is a Soldier. No idea why! Let's just assume the little type line makes one thousand percent sense and just go about rating the ten best Soldiers ever, shall we?

10. Boros Swiftblade

Lots and lots of Magic's best Soldiers are White. In fact, Our Hero decided that eight of the ten best, ever, are White. Boros Swiftblade - while White - is the lone Red contributor to this Top 10. Red just doesn't have a lot of great Soldiers!

The next best one might be Legion Warboss? Moonrage Brute - the Red Werewolf half of the appropriately named Brutal Cathar // Moonrage Brute - ceases to be a Soldier upon, ahem Turning Red (no relation to the 2022 Disney film).

But what about Boros Swiftblade? What made it so good?

Well in 2007 Pro Tour Hall of Famer Raphael Levy WON two consecutive Grand Prix events with essentially the same "Domain Zoo" deck. His signature? Four copies of Boros Swiftblade in both lists.

Domain Zoo | Extended | Rapael Levy, 1st Place Grand Prix Dallas 2007

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Savannah Lions
• 2 Kataki, War's Wage
• 2 Wild Mongrel
• 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
• 4 Boros Swiftblade
• 4 Grim Lavamancer
• 4 Kird Ape
• 4 Watchwolf

• Instants (9)
• 1 Brute Force
• 4 Gaea's Might
• 4 Sudden Shock

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Firebolt
• 4 Tribal Flames

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Armadillo Cloak

• Lands (20)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple Garden
• 2 Bloodstained Mire
• 2 Flooded Strand
• 2 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Wooded Foothills

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Armadillo Cloak
• 2 Jotun Grunt
• 2 Kataki, War's Wage
• 2 Krosan Grip
• 2 Lightning Helix
• 1 Loxodon Hierarch
• 3 Meddling Mage
• 2 Umezawa's Jitte

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Domain Zoo | Extended | Raphael Levy, 1st Place Grand Prix Singapore 2007

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Savannah Lions
• 2 Jotun Grunt
• 2 Wild Mongrel
• 3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
• 4 Boros Swiftblade
• 4 Grim Lavamancer
• 4 Kird Ape
• 4 Watchwolf

• Instants (9)
• 1 Brute Force
• 1 Lightning Helix
• 3 Sudden Shock
• 4 Gaea's Might

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Firebolt
• 4 Tribal Flames

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Armadillo Cloak

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Umezawa's Jitte

• Lands (20)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Temple Garden
• 2 Bloodstained Mire
• 2 Flooded Strand
• 2 Stomping Ground
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Wooded Foothills

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Jotun Grunt
• 1 Armadillo Cloak
• 1 Umezawa's Jitte
• 3 Meddling Mage
• 3 Kataki, War's Wage
• 3 Engineered Plague
• 2 Krosan Grip
• 1 Loxodon Hierarch

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Boros Swiftblade is one of the rare Magic cards ever to really push the envelope for the ability double strike. Hitting with both first strike and ordinary damage, Boros Swiftblade made pump spells absolutely spectacular.

Levy's mana base could accomplish all five basic land types, which enabled Gaea's Might to go +5/+5.

On a Boros Swiftblade? That could be 12 damage or more in a single swing! Levy liked the oomph for Boros Swiftblade so much, he added a solo Brute Force ("the Red Giant Growth") to get in a sixth, albeit less explosive, Gaea's Might. All because these cards were so combo-tacular with his little 1/2 Red and White Soldier.

9. Dauthi Slayer

Red isn't the only color to get a Soldier in the Top 10 that benefits from buff spells during creature combat! Black's addition of Dauthi Slayer is unique in a number of ways.

When you line up a Dauthi Slayer against its contemporaries... It kind of sucks and doesn't make sense, right?

Soltari Monk and Soltari Priest, the Cleric twins we talked about earlier, swing well and don't have any drawbacks. In fact, they both have a substantial benefit... Soltari Priest, in particular, was a cross-format All-Star in its heyday.

Dauthi Horror is kinda... sorta... A terrible Soltari Monk? Equal and opposite only a little easier to cast but way worse on the special ability? I guess un-equal and opposite? At least Dauthi Horror could hang back at home to chump a Soltari Priest if it came down to it.

But Dauthi Slayer?

This one is interesting! Second Black pip... So a little harder to cast in some decks than Dauthi Horror. But instead of even the marginal special ability, the Slayer had to jump into the fray every turn if able. No holding back! Not even the option to hold back!

In exchange it got a second point of toughness. This was a bigger deal than you might imagine off the top of your head. Dauthi Slayer had to content variously with creatures like Granger Guildmage and Fireslinger, dodge counters off of a Serrated Arrows, and more. That point of toughness wasn't nothing.

It's that the Shadow side was so much of something.

We kid about the combat deficiencies of all the Soltari and Dauthi, but Shadow was something else. If your opponents didn't have Shadow creatures of their own, your Soltaris (or more seminally here, Dauthis) always hit.

And they hit way harder than two.

Mono-Black | David Price, Top 8 Grand Prix Seattle

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Dauthi Horror
• 4 Dauthi Slayer
• 4 Phyrexian Negator

• Instants (9)
• 1 Kaervek's Spite
• 1 Spinning Darkness
• 3 Hatred
• 4 Demonic Consultation

• Sorceries (7)
• 3 Unmask
• 4 Duress

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Sarcomancy

• Lands (20)
• 16 Swamp
• 4 City of Traitors

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Cursed Scroll
• 4 Masticore
• 2 Null Rod
• 3 Perish
• 3 Sphere of Resistance

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The King of Beatdown David E. Price just killed you if you gave him an open. Tap out? Demonic Consultation for Dark Ritual, or Hatred, whichever he was missing. The evasion on cards like Dauthi Slayer made one-attack kills commonplace; and Dave was a master of trampling over the unaware with Phyrexian Negator for the same purpose.

Dauthi Slayer was an absolute workhorse of multiple Black aggro archetypes; but Hatred probably showcased its violence best of all.

8. Esper Sentinel

Anyone who has played Modern since the printing of Modern Horizons II knows about Esper Sentinel.

Hammer Time | Modern | Tiziano Boni, 1st Place 4season Autumn Bologna (Italy)

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Gingerbrute
• 2 Giver of Runes
• 3 Ornithopter
• 4 Esper Sentinel
• 4 Puresteel Paladin
• 4 Stoneforge Mystic

• Instants (4)
• 4 Surge of Salvation

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave

• Enchantments (6)
• 2 Forge Anew
• 4 Sigarda's Aid

• Artifacts (10)
• 1 Kaldra Compleat
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 1 Shadowspear
• 3 Springleaf Drum
• 4 Colossus Hammer

• Lands (18)
• 9 Plains
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Silent Clearing
• 3 Inkmoth Nexus
• 4 Urza's Saga

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Cursed Totem
• 2 Mana Tithe
• 3 Drannith Magistrate
• 4 Solitude
• 3 Strict Proctor

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It's not that Esper Sentinel is so dominating... But it makes decision making difficult and mana potentially inefficient.

There are lots of things "wrong" about Esper Sentinel, but I think the most frustrating is that if you hold back to try to play around its inherent card advantage you can give the opponent an open to just kill you with some Colossus Hammer combination.

7. Scion of Oona

Faeries | 2009 Standard | Sam Black, Top 8 Grand Prix Barcelona

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Sower of Temptation
• 4 Mistbind Clique
• 4 Scion of Oona
• 4 Spellstutter Sprite

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Jace Beleren

• Instants (16)
• 1 Soul Manipulation
• 2 Terror
• 3 Agony Warp
• 3 Broken Ambitions
• 3 Peppersmoke
• 4 Cryptic Command

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Bitterblossom

• Lands (25)
• 4 Swamp
• 6 Island
• 1 Faerie Conclave
• 2 Underground River
• 4 Mutavault
• 4 Secluded Glen
• 4 Sunken Ruins

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Puppeteer Clique
• 2 Infest
• 2 Countersquall
• 2 Glen Elendra Archmage
• 4 Thoughtseize
• 2 Sower of Temptation
• 1 Jace Beleren
• 1 Broken Ambitions

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Lorwyn-era Faeries was about the most feared (and most poorly balanced) deck in the history of competitive Magic.

The biggest offender?

A.k.a. "Awesome Blossom".

The problem was that Bitterblossom for no good reason was a Faerie, despite not being a creature. Therefore even the cards designed to answer Faeries generally didn't work.

An instant speed sweeper that couldn't be countered? Surely this was effective against a Mistbind Clique on the stack! Well, not if it could still Champion a stupid enchantment that didn't die to a creature sweeper.

Fun to play against? No.

Satisfying to play? I don't see how it possibly could have been.

Effective? Well, there you've got me. Faeries put up countless Top 8s in both Standard and Block Constructed tournaments. Its combination of linear "1 + 1 = 3" addition and the ability to play at instant speed made for a formidable attack deck... That would often act like a Counterspell deck.

Mistbind Clique was probably the most famous flash threat in Faeries, but Scion of Oona also won a ton for the most generally disliked of tribes. A kind of instant speed Crusade that was also a kind of Negate that could attack, Scion of Oona proved a capable Faerie... and the best of its Soldiers.

6. Thraben Inspector

Selesnya Aggro | 2016 Standard | Steve Rubin, 1st Place Pro Tour Shadows Over Innistrad

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Sylvan Advocate
• 4 Thraben Inspector
• 4 Hangarback Walker
• 4 Archangel Avacyn

• Planeswalkers (8)
• 4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• 4 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

• Instants (6)
• 2 Secure the Wastes
• 4 Dromoka's Command

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Evolutionary Leap
• 1 Stasis Snare
• 3 Oath of Nissa

• Lands (25)
• 7 Forest
• 7 Plains
• 3 Westvale Abbey
• 4 Canopy Vista
• 4 Fortified Village

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Tragic Arrogance
• 2 Lambholt Pacifist
• 1 Linvala, the Preserver
• 1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
• 2 Clip Wings
• 3 Declaration in Stone
• 1 Quarantine Field
• 1 Evolutionary Leap
• 1 Secure the Wastes

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There is probably no Soldier that spans the sheer breadth of inclusion. Thraben Inspector was a randomly good value creature in a GW mid-range take...

Bant Humans | 2016 Standard| Brian Braun-Duin, 2016 World Championship

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Duskwatch Recruiter
• 2 Knight of the White Orchid
• 3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 3 Thraben Inspector
• 4 Lambholt Pacifist
• 4 Reflector Mage
• 4 Thalia's Lieutenant
• 4 Tireless Tracker

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Tamiyo, Field Researcher

• Spells (8)
• 4 Collected Company
• 4 Dromoka's Command

• Lands (25)
• 1 Island
• 3 Forest
• 6 Plains
• 2 Canopy Vista
• 2 Yavimaya Coast
• 3 Prairie Stream
• 4 Evolving Wilds
• 4 Fortified Village

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Duskwatch Recruiter
• 1 Knight of the White Orchid
• 3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
• 2 Day's Undoing
• 2 Declaration in Stone
• 2 Negate
• 2 Tragic Arrogance

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... And also just Human enough to take down the World Championships.

Never exceptional; just an exceptionally appropriate piece in a truly wild number of decks, Thraben Inspector... How shall I put this? Drew a card for an additional 2 mana; and sometimes contributed to synergies based on volume of artifacts controlled.

Really, that's about it. It was good enough. Good enough to set up Toolcraft Exemplar (among its many exemplary inclusions):

Mardu Vehicles | 2017 Standard | Matt Severa, 1st Place Grand Prix Washington DC 2017

• Creatures (24)
• 2 Pia Nalaar
• 3 Archangel Avacyn
• 3 Walking Ballista
• 4 Scrapheap Scrounger
• 4 Thought-Knot Seer
• 4 Thraben Inspector
• 4 Toolcraft Exemplar

• Instants (6)
• 2 Fatal Push
• 4 Unlicensed Disintegration

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Cut // Ribbons

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 Aethersphere Harvester
• 4 Heart of Kiran

• Lands (24)
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Ifnir Deadlands
• 1 Needle Spires
• 1 Shambling Vent
• 2 Ramunap Ruins
• 2 Shefet Dunes
• 4 Aether Hub
• 4 Concealed Courtyard
• 4 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 Spire of Industry

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Doomfall
• 4 Abrade
• 1 Anguished Unmaking
• 1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
• 4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• 3 Aethersphere Harvester
• 1 Fatal Push

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5. Kor Firewalker

Naya Burn | Modern | Brandon Burton, 1st Place Grand Prix Indianapolis 2016

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Grim Lavamancer
• 4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
• 4 Goblin Guide
• 4 Monastery Swiftspear
• 4 Wild Nacatl

• Instants (16)
• 4 Atarka's Command
• 4 Boros Charm
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Searing Blaze

• Sorceries (7)
• 3 Rift Bolt
• 4 Lava Spike

• Lands (20)
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Copperline Gorge
• 2 Stomping Ground
• 3 Arid Mesa
• 3 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Wooded Foothills

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Deflecting Palm
• 3 Destructive Revelry
• 3 Kor Firewalker
• 1 Lightning Helix
• 4 Path to Exile
• 2 Skullcrack

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Rarely has there ever been a sideboard card so perfect; for a particular matchup (which is usually just the mirror).

Kor Firewalker is a hyper specialized sideboard card... But itself requires highly specialized tools to interact back. Does it come in against a wide variety of decks? No. Does it win the matchups - okay, let's be honest, matchup - where you need it? Almost every time.

4. Ranger of Eos

It takes a heck of a card to compete with Bloodbraid Elf at specifically the "3/2 value creature for 4 mana" championships... But Ranger of Eos put up a heck of a resume. While it was not the 3/2 of choice in the most popular mid-range deck of the era, it did equal the total number of Bloodbraid Elves in the best deck of that year's World Championships:

Naya Lightsaber | 2009 Standard | Andre Coimbra, 1st Place Worlds 2009 (Rome)

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Scute Mob
• 4 Baneslayer Angel
• 4 Bloodbraid Elf
• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Ranger of Eos
• 4 Wild Nacatl
• 4 Woolly Thoctar

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Ajani Vengeant

• Instants (8)
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Path to Exile

• Lands (24)
• 3 Mountain
• 4 Forest
• 4 Plains
• 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
• 4 Arid Mesa
• 4 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Sunpetal Grove

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Ajani Vengeant
• 2 Burst Lightning
• 4 Celestial Purge
• 4 Goblin Ruinblaster
• 4 Great Sable Stag

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A powerful source of card advantage that could take over the late game with bullets like Scute Mob, Ranger of Eos also helped to hold down the fort in attrition games, often trading for a certain other 3/2 for four (but leaving behind two more beautiful bodies).

In other contexts Ranger of Eos has bridged the middle mana costs for Birthing Pod decks in Modern, or dug up double Death's Shadows for a "late" game that would make the World Championship-winning Scute Mob blush.

At this point it's any Soldier's game.

Any of the top three Soldiers could easily just be the best one. All of them have tremendous resumes and have contributed to any number of performing decks. Maybe you like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben more than I do? I'd just assume you haven't played a lot of Standard the past two years, but you do you.

3. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Death and Taxes | Legacy | Allen Wu, 1st Place Pro Tour Minneapolis

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Mirran Crusader
• 1 Palace Jailer
• 1 Sanctum Prelate
• 2 Recruiter of the Guard
• 4 Flickerwisp
• 4 Mother of Runes
• 4 Phyrexian Revoker
• 4 Stoneforge Mystic
• 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

• Instants (4)
• 4 Swords to Plowshares

• Artifacts (7)
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1 Umezawa's Jitte
• 4 Aether Vial

• Lands (24)
• 5 Plains
• 6 Snow-Covered Plains
• 1 Horizon Canopy
• 1 Mishra's Factory
• 3 Karakas
• 4 Rishadan Port
• 4 Wasteland

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 2 Council's Judgment
• 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• 2 Path to Exile
• 1 Faerie Macabre
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 1 Ethersworn Canonist
• 1 Containment Priest
• 1 Leonin Relic-Warder
• 1 Walking Ballista

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Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a card that is legal to play in Standard right now... But has made contributions to performing decks all over the place. I chose a Legacy deck to represent her a) because it's Allen Wu, come on; and b) to showcase that with weenies this good, even non-combo White Weenie can take it down in Legacy.

Just a note: Karakas is often played in Legacy White Weenie decks to interact with, say, an opposing Emrakul; but in this deck it can save your own Legend from removal. There is only one to save.

2. Champion of the Parish

Humans | Modern | Eli Loveman, 1st Place Pro Tour London

• Creatures (37)
• 1 Militia Bugler
• 2 Deputy of Detention
• 3 Kitesail Freebooter
• 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 4 Champion of the Parish
• 4 Mantis Rider
• 4 Meddling Mage
• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Phantasmal Image
• 4 Reflector Mage
• 4 Thalia's Lieutenant

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Aether Vial

• Lands (19)
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 1 Seachrome Coast
• 4 Ancient Ziggurat
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Horizon Canopy
• 4 Unclaimed Territory

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Izzet Staticaster
• 1 Whirler Rogue
• 1 Sin Collector
• 1 Gaddock Teeg
• 2 Dismember
• 3 Damping Sphere
• 4 Auriok Champion
• 1 Militia Bugler
• 1 Deputy of Detention

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It was hard not to put Champion of the Parish first. For truly Champion of the Parish is the Soldier's Soldier! Or, I guess more properly, the Human's Human.

The card lacks strategic breadth of any kind. It's good in exactly one kind of a deck. Worse, Champion of the Parish isn't the champion of hardly anything if you draw it late. But on turn one?

But that focus, maybe, is the core of the Champion's charm. You don't see Champion of the Parish in combo decks, or across a ton of different creature-deck sub-archetypes. It's all about Soldiers. I mean Humans. That's it, but the 1/1 for one is absolutely huge nonetheless. Any questions?

1. Nomads en-Kor

Oh look! A White Weenie deck!

White Weenie | Matt Linde, 1st Place US Nationals 1998

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Soltari Visionary
• 3 Nomads en-Kor
• 3 Paladin en-Vec
• 4 Soltari Monk
• 4 Soltari Priest
• 4 Soul Warden
• 4 Warrior en-Kor
• 4 White Knight

• Instants (7)
• 3 Disenchant
• 4 Tithe

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Cataclysm

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Aura of Silence
• 4 Empyrial Armor

• Lands (17)
• 17 Plains

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Abeyance
• 1 Afterlife
• 3 Aura of Silence
• 1 Disenchant
• 1 Soltari Visionary
• 2 Spirit Link
• 2 Tariff
• 2 Wrath of God

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To be sure, when White needed a 1-drop (and none of Thraben Inspector, Champion of the Parish... Or like a Mother of Runes) were available... Nomads en-Kor might get the call (and a share of the US National Championship).

Cool. The 1-drop can win at the highest stage doing White Weenie things...

But that's not at all what makes it special; or worthy of #1 spot in this Top 10 list.

Cephalid Breakfast | Extended | Lucas Glavin, 2nd Place Grand Prix Boston 2005

• Creatures (12)
• 1 Krosan Cloudscraper
• 1 Shaman en-Kor
• 1 Sutured Ghoul
• 3 Cephalid Illusionist
• 3 Daru Spiritualist
• 3 Nomads en-Kor

• Instants (14)
• 1 Krosan Reclamation
• 1 Worthy Cause
• 4 Brainstorm
• 4 Vampiric Tutor
• 4 Worldly Tutor

• Sorceries (8)
• 1 Exhume
• 1 Reanimate
• 3 Cabal Therapy
• 3 Living Wish

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Dragon Breath

• Artifacts (6)
• 2 Chrome Mox
• 4 Aether Vial

• Lands (19)
• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Brushland
• 1 Caves of Koilos
• 1 Underground River
• 1 Yavimaya Coast
• 2 Llanowar Wastes
• 2 Starlit Sanctum
• 2 Tarnished Citadel
• 4 City of Brass
• 4 Forbidden Orchard

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Uktabi Orangutan
• 1 Rootwater Thief
• 2 Kami of Ancient Law
• 2 Gilded Drake
• 1 Forsaken City
• 1 Energy Field
• 1 Dragon Shadow
• 1 Bone Shredder
• 1 Battlefield Scrounger
• 1 Nomads en-Kor
• 1 Daru Spiritualist
• 1 Cephalid Illusionist
• 1 Starlit Sanctum

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Nomads en-Kor + Cephalid Illusionist... Basically a two-card combination. Glavin might have to juggle with Exhume and Krosan Reclamation afterward, but a huge Sutured Ghoul would probably be coming the opponent's way, and the very next attack.

Somehow the SAME deck... Nomads en-Kor + Daru Spiritualist made for a LOT of toughness. However much toughness you wanted, and for no additional mana! Can I interest you in a Worthy Cause?

My #1 Soldier in the History of Magic: The Gathering passed the minimum hurdle. It was pretty good at Soldier-ing. I'm sure Linde got in for one on turn two plenty of times on the way to the trophy. But no other Soldier can equal Nomads en-Kor's contribution to fast combo kills or essentially limitless life total.

There can be only one #1. And this 1/1 for one is that one.

LOVE

MIKE