"Soldier" is a hugely supported creature type in Magic: The Gathering, currently boasting 906 soldiers printed, however it's not even in the top 10 of Types used in Commander decks. This is interesting, especially noting that there are only 348 dragons, 615 elves, and 574 zombies printed, the top three creature types used in Commander today. It could be that there aren't good commanders for a Soldier themed deck, but to anyone who says that, I'll immediately show them my Myrel deck. With new soldiers being printed all the time, including Caesar, Legion's Emporer and Commander Mustard from this years upcoming Universes Beyond: Fallout and Ravnica: Clue Edition releases, it's clear that this type not only has the support, but interesting commanders to back it up. If this article does nothing else, I hope it'll convince you to give this soldiers another look, maybe build a new Soldier kindred deck, or at the very least slot a few soldiers into a deck you already love. Check out my favorites below and let me know what your favorite soldier is in the comments.

The Best Soldier as Your Commander

For this section, I'm going to veer away from Mono-White. Why? Because it's easy. Mono-White has long had soldiers in it's back pocket. For this category, I'm going to pick a card that is really doing work for Soldiers and will motivate you to build a new kind of soldier Kindred deck. That card has to be Caesar, Legion's Emporer. Not only does he have the ability to include the Mono-White cards you love, but he's got access to Red and Black, which means most of the other top cards in this article are going to work with him. In addition, his triggered ability is bananas, allowing you to create more tokens, draw cards, or deal direct damage to an opponent.

The Best Soldier in cEDH

There are a lot of options for cEDH but I would be remiss if I didn't pick the newcomer Soldier, Boromir, Warden of the Tower in this slot. Boromir is doing work and is basically an anti-cascade card. Additionally, he can be sacrificed to give your board indestructible and have the Ring tempt you, giving an incredibly powerful buff to one of your creatures. I have no doubt that he will be recurred to provide that stax piece as necessary and will be there to interrupt any shenanigans that may occur in games of any power. This is only a slightly better pick than Lavinia, Azorius Renegade in my eyes because of that Sacrifice ability.

Fan Favorite Soldier

Many might forget that Esper Sentinel is, in fact, a Soldier. This handy dude sees play in decks no matter the power level. I would call Esper Sentinel the "Sol Ring" of White. If you've got a free slot in the 99, playing this guy is always a great option. While primarily used for it's card draw ability early game when players are too greedy to pay their taxes, don't underestimate the value of buffing your sentinel to continue drawing cards in the mid and late game.

The Best Common Soldier

Horsemanship might be my lease favorite mechanic but there's no denying it's powerful. Of the common soldiers with Horsemanship the best by far is Wu Scout. It's 1/1 for two mana and when it enters the battlefield you get to look at your opponent's hand. Knowledge is power, and knowing what your opponents are going to play can be extremely useful in planning your next moves.

The Best Uncommon Soldier

This uncommon is going to make it harder to get rid of your heavy hitting Legendary creatures and allows you to exile, at will, problematic cards in any graveyard. General's Enforcer also has slightly more toughness, allowing you a little extra protection for the guy protecting your board and with 2 power he still triggers cards like Mentor of the Meek. It's a win win.

The Best Rare Soldier

Imagine any card you have on the battlefield, or your opponents have on the battlefield. This card is that card, isn't legendary, AND has myriad. Sounds amazing right? It is, and that card is Auton Soldier. Universes Beyond: Doctor Who had some insane cards and this one is at the top of the list.

The Best Mythic Soldier

Tutoring up your Esper Sentinel is always the right play, and Ranger-Captain of Eos is going to let you do that AND has a sacrifice ability, making it so your opponents can't cast non creature spells. That sacrifice ability is what pushed this guy over the edge for me, making it the best mythic card. This guy did get a downgrade to rare, so this is technically cheating here but he's just the best card.

Best Underplayed Card

Remember when I said Universes Beyond: Doctor Who had some banger cards? Imagine my surprise to find this one on the bottom of the barrel of the rankings. Jenny, Generated Anomaly is a soldier and she's incredible. Explore is a mechanic that was introduced in Ixalan and has seen a revival thanks to Hakbal of the Surging Soul (not a soldier) and the Merfolk precon from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. It's a great way to get to the important bits of your deck and never miss a land drop. I wouldn't miss the opportunity to put this mechanic in your deck, even if just on one creature.

The Best Human Soldier

Recently receiving a reprint as Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart, this card was first introduced in a Secret Lair. Rick, Steadfast Leader will have your opponents screaming, "Carlll noooooo," as you make your humans on board beefy and add some game warping keywords to each human you control. He's pretty inexpensive, so in the Command Zone he can be especially meddlesome. As many soldiers are also humans, this card can do work in either Kindred deck. The choice is entirely up to you.

The Cutest Soldier

I don't know how you build your decks but I would be remiss if I didn't choose a cute card every now and then. This card is an 8/10 on cuteness scale as long as you don't look it directly in it's eyes. In addition to being adorable, Rescue Retriever prevents all damage dealt to other attacking creatures you control and puts a +1/+1 counter on each other soldier you control on ETB. If he weren't already the goodest boy, he's even better as he comes ready to rumble with Flash.

In Conclusion

So, there you have it, the 10 Best Soldiers in Magic: The Gathering. This list will probably change for me, especially considering that the next two releases definitely have some nice Soldier support. Do you agree with all my choices? Do you have a favorite that I didn't list?