Completing Sonic the Hedgehog in MTG’s Commander Format

Sonic the Hedgehog, once a beloved gaming character, found it challenging to adapt to 3D environments. His roots run deep in two-dimensional gameplay, so it’s fitting that he’s making his way into Magic: The Gathering as part of a special Secret Lair Drop.

Sonic and his allies come with an array of unique abilities, making them great additions to any deck with Sonic as the commander. Lace up your Power Sneakers; let’s dive into our Sonic the Hedgehog Commander deck!

Sample Decklist

This deck is tailored for Bracket 2 (Core), specifically aimed at maximizing the synergy between Sonic and his four companions included here.

The Commander

Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2/4 legendary Hedgehog Warrior with haste costing one red, one white, one blue, and one generic mana. These colors reflect his character’s palette rather than his nature but still align well with his abilities.

Sonic hates being kept waiting, so he rewards fellow speedy creatures. His unique ability, “Gotta Go Fast,” allows you to add +1/+1 counters to all creatures with haste or flash each time Sonic attacks, turning them into immediate threats that need to be dealt with promptly.

The second ability mirrors Sonic’s near invincibility as long as he holds at least one ring. Whenever Sonic (or any other creature you control with haste or flash) takes damage, you will generate a tapped Treasure token.

This ability triggers every time a creature takes damage. For instance, if you have seven creatures on the field and an opponent casts Blasphemous Act as a board wipe, you will receive seven Treasures in return, allowing for a quick comeback.

Though the ability doesn’t guarantee survival for your creatures, if you incorporate cards that can deal small amounts of damage to your own creatures, Sonic can function as a gradual mana engine by utilizing damage to produce Treasures for future use.

Building The Deck

Sonic the Hedgehog focuses on strategies involving haste and flash. He incentivizes having numerous creatures with either of these traits, such as Miles “Tails” Prower, Amy Rose, and Knuckles the Echidna.

Creatures with flash can act like instants, often featuring effects typically seen on instant cards. Countering a spell while summoning a creature that Sonic can enhance with +1/+1 counters can be a game-changer, allowing these creatures to replace several spells generally included in decks.

Most importantly, Sonic can generate many Treasure tokens. When your swift, hasty creatures receive damage, you will accumulate a large number of Treasure tokens, resembling how Sonic drops rings upon taking damage in the games.

Sonic’s companions might not focus on haste as much, but they all have an affinity for artifacts. Tails and Amy engage with Vehicles and Equipment, while Knuckles generates Treasure tokens and introduces an alternate win condition with 30 artifacts in play.

By embracing these synergies, this deck is filled with artifacts that bolster your mana base, increase your damage output, and strengthen your creatures, paving the way for Knuckles’s alternate win condition.

Ramp

This deck incorporates a classic mana rock suite, including Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and all three available Talismans, but most mana acceleration tends to come from Sonic or Knuckles. You might want to add several Treasure-generating options to ensure a steady flow of resources.

Xorn stands out as an excellent Treasure-generator, effectively doubled the number of Treasure tokens you earn whenever they are created. With Sonic on the battlefield, this can lead to an impressive cache of Treasures rapidly!

Goldspan Dragon may not double your Treasures, but it does enhance their mana production. This impressive creature grants each Treasure you possess the ability to create two mana when sacrificed, generates Treasures when it attacks, and has haste to grow larger when Sonic launches his offensive.

Professional Face-Breaker has a similar trait to Knuckles, producing Treasures whenever your creatures deal combat damage to a player, and allows you to sacrifice those Treasures to exile the top card of your deck, playing it that turn if you have the mana.

A flavorful addition to the mana base is Replicating Ring, which taps for any color and has the potential to create eight additional mana rocks as the game progresses. While this typically takes eight turns, Kilo, Apogee Mind’s proliferate ability can accelerate the process significantly.

Draw

As a Jeskai commander, Sonic benefits from blue’s impressive draw options. Classics like Brainstorm are a great fit, but this deck emphasizes drawing as a reward for aggressive play, introducing variety into your gaming sessions.

Enduring Curiosity is a fantastic fit: with flash, it can grow as Sonic attacks, and you have the option to cast it after attacking but before combat damage for a surprise edge, or at the close of your opponent’s turn if you have spare mana. If it meets its end, it returns to play as an enchantment!

Caretaker’s Talent pairs well, allowing you to draw a card each turn you create a token, which you will likely do often. For an additional mana, you can clone a token you control, triggering that effect without risk!

Combat Research, while a somewhat weaker ally compared to Enduring Curiosity, still applies its effects to one creature, and provides +1/+1 and Ward 1 to your legendary creature, offering some protection for Sonic. Ideally, you could place it on Knuckles for double strike action.

Pirate versions of Amy and Knuckles appeared in the Sonic Prime series, making Jackdaw a fitting flavor choice and an exceptional draw engine, especially if Tails grants it a flying counter. If you have numerous artifacts, it can continually replenish your hand each turn.

Amy’s Armory

Amy Rose’s ability lets you attach Equipment for free each time she attacks, boosting another creature based on her power. This could encourage you to include high-cost Equipment for value, but don’t forget to add cheaper options for times when she’s absent.

Amy can wield her Piko Piko Hammer, a reimagined version of Hammer of Nazahn, which works seamlessly with any character. This hammer allows you to attach any Equipment to a creature right as it enters the battlefield, enabling exciting interactions with cards like Bloodforged Battle-Axe.

Bloodforged Battle-Axe offers a modest +2/+0, but also creates copies whenever the equipped creature deals combat damage to a player. This can lead to rapid scaling, allowing you to equip all duplicates and bypass blockers effectively.

Whether taking advantage of Amy’s skills or her Piko Piko Hammer, equipping the Colossus Hammer can significantly impact the game. Not only will Amy gain +10/+10, but she’ll also bestow an additional +13/+0 to another creature. Should you manage to pass that on to Knuckles the Echidna, who has double strike, it creates a threatening situation for your opponents.

If you cast Brass Knuckles, you’ll receive two copies, each granting an equipped creature double strike as long as it has at least two Equipment attached. Equip Sonic with Brass Knuckles and Colossus Hammer, and you have a chance to deal lethal commander damage!

Tails’s Garage

While Amy focuses on Equipment, Miles “Tails” Prower specializes in Vehicles. When Tails is in play, any vehicle that enters under your control allows you to draw a card if it has flying, or grants it a flying counter if it doesn’t. Most of the Vehicles you’ll use will likely have flying capabilities.

Tornado, Sonic’s Biplane is a clever reference to Weatherlight from Dominaria. With a 4/5 body and Crew 3, Tails can pilot it, and when it hits an opponent, you can retrieve an artifact or legendary card from the top five of your library, ensuring you typically find something worthwhile.

Another massive ship Tails can handle is Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, a 6/5 flying behemoth that can destroy an opponent’s creature or planeswalker upon entry or when attacking. Use this option to clear away blockers, setting the stage for even more significant attacks.

The final Vehicle of note is the Brotherhood Vertibird from Fallout, which features power equivalent to the number of artifacts you control. Given that this deck can generate lots of artifacts, it serves as an ideal late-game win condition capable of inflicting substantial damage.

Knuckles’s Treasure Vault

Knuckles is a formidable force, endowed with haste, trample, and double strike, making it highly likely that he will succeed every time you launch an attack. This is crucial, as he provides Treasure tokens whenever any of your creatures deliver combat damage to an opponent.

His distinctive Equipment, Knuckles’s Glove (reskinned from The Reaver Cleaver), generates Treasure tokens based on the combat damage dealt to a player by its bearer. With Knuckles, you could potentially generate up to eight Treasures with each assault.

Furthermore, Knuckles has an alternate win condition that allows you to win the game once you possess 30 artifacts. With various tools at your disposal to create Treasure, adding Academy Manufactor can triple your artifact production, helping you reach that goal smoothly.

Another creative way to hit Knuckles’s win condition is by casting a spell that deals damage to all creatures. With Sonic and several others on the board, you can use Cinderclasm at the end of your opponent’s turn to create a substantial amount of Treasure tokens, leaving them little time to counter your strategy.