Brad Boimler, Eager EnsignBrad Boimler, Eager Ensign | Art by Andreas Zafiratos

Counters, as a mechanic, have taken on a new meaning since Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths and Streets of New Capenna, which both leaned into a hearty dose of counters that didn’t just boost power and toughness. Magic has done some unusual counters throughout its history to represent building progress towards an end point. Over time, this has coalesced to the point where a mono-white Counters Matter commander might be viable. Let’s check and see. I’ll be building a Bracket 2 (Core) deck for the purposes of testing — so no Game Changers and a lot of the utility cards (ramp, card draw, and removal) will be based around the theme of the deck rather than purely best in show (so, Sol RingSol Ring as a treat, but we’re not guaranteeing Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares).

Let’s see if Brad Boimler, Eager Ensign has what it takes.

What Does Brad Boimler, Eager Ensign Do?

Brad Boimler, Eager EnsignBrad Boimler, Eager Ensign is a 2/2 for with lifelink and “Whenever Brad Boimler becomes tapped, until end of turn, if one or more counters would be put on a permanent you control, that many plus one of each of those kinds of counters are put on that permanent instead.” In short: we get more counters per instance of counter-placing. If Brad attacks and then we cast, say, Unbreakable FormationUnbreakable Formation, we’d put two +1/+1 counters on all of our creatures instead. But Brad doesn’t have to attack — he just has to be tapped. And he doesn’t say +1/+1 counter, just counter.

The most direct comparison to this effect is Lae'zel, Vlaakith's ChampionLae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion, which is an extra mana and only cares about counters on creatures and planeswalkers (and the player, admittedly, for some spicy experience counter shenanigans). Brad needs to be tapped, but costs less and affects all permanents. The intention is for Spacecraft, of course, but plenty of permanents use counters. This deck doesn’t use any Sagas, but Brad can speedread with that ability, triggering multiple chapters all at once. I was tempted to go that route, throwing in some Blink to make good use of the creature Sagas from Final Fantasy and transforming ones from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, but I’ve drawn up Saga and Blink techs recently, so I thought I’d go a different route…

With that in mind, let’s boldly go to Scryfall and see what’s what.

Key Cards for Brad Boimler, Eager Ensign

A Brad Boimler deck is going to want three things: ways to tap Brad, ways to get counters on things, and ways to care about said counters. Overall, this will be slotting in a lot of +1/+1 counters, but we will be getting weird with it — don’t worry.

First up: tapping. There are three mechanics that let us tap our creatures with ease: crew, station, and saddle. Permanents with station are the most in-tune with the deck since they also have counters. To that end, the other cards needed to click into the theme or have some solid utility. Bulwark OxBulwark Ox is a Mount that can dispense counters and protect our team in a pinch. The RegaliaThe Regalia is a pretty decent ramp source for our color. We’ll need the extra mana over time, as the deck would like to eventually play Extinguisher BattleshipExtinguisher Battleship with a well-established board.

The lone white Planet card, Adagia, Windswept BastionAdagia, Windswept Bastion is one of those “free” sources of tapping, but not the only one — welcome to a mono-color deck that wants Holdout SettlementHoldout Settlement! Aside from that, Relic of LegendsRelic of Legends and Springleaf DrumSpringleaf Drum are widely used but extra special here. Meanwhile, Swallow WholeSwallow Whole and Collective EffortCollective Effort are kind of an entire package — tapping our commander to make him active, removing something, and placing a counter to be enhanced by our now-active commander. It’s kind of genius.

Okay, that last bit of tapping clued in on the next piece: getting counters down. There are two pieces to this: cards which put counters on the team and sources of proliferate. The deck runs a decent handful of each. There’s the aforementioned Collective EffortCollective Effort, but Duty Beyond DeathDuty Beyond Death is a cheaper version of the also-included Unbreakable FormationUnbreakable Formation. Meanwhile, Captain America, SkyboundCaptain America, Skybound and Felidar RetreatFelidar Retreat can do this every turn to maximum effect. As for proliferate: Grateful ApparitionGrateful Apparition and Recon Craft ThetaRecon Craft Theta are evasive sources of proliferate, Filigree VectorFiligree Vector is a massive swing, and Karn's BastionKarn's Bastion is a free include. Go nuts!

With the counters flowing, the deck craves synergy. Fortunately, there’s a lot of that in white. Brigone, Soldier of MeletisBrigone, Soldier of Meletis is one of at least five creatures in the deck that can turn counters placed into card draw one way or another. Hopeful InitiateHopeful Initiate and Auron, Venerated GuardianAuron, Venerated Guardian are forms of repeatable removal (Auron is likely to eat removal himself and give the opponents their things back, but he can at least clear a blocker or two for some relevant combats). [El]Falcon and Redwing[/el] and Royal Talon Fighter JetRoyal Talon Fighter Jet can both generate a massive army in a few short turns with all the counters and proliferate effects.

I would be remiss if I didn’t take stock of some of the weird counters that this deck gets to utilize. Charge counters abound, of course, with all the Spacecraft and the odd Empowered AutogeneratorEmpowered Autogenerator, but this deck is going to be accruing story counters with Staff of the StorytellerStaff of the Storyteller, page counters with Tome of LegendsTome of Legends, oil counters with several permanents including Tablet of CompleationTablet of Compleation, and even… study counters. Yes, study counters are for two different cards: Grimoire of the DeadGrimoire of the Dead and Pursuit of KnowledgePursuit of Knowledge. Funnily enough, both cards either discard a card or skip a draw, but are balanced around having to do it three times. With Brad Boimler, Eager EnsignBrad Boimler, Eager Ensign tapped, they’ll produce two counters instead, and a random proliferate may mean we only have to go down by one card total before getting a weird build-your-own Rise of the Dark RealmsRise of the Dark Realms or Overflowing InsightOverflowing Insight… in mono-white!

Having scouted the planet, let’s report to the bridge for final analyses…

How Does the Deck Win?

This is a pretty fast deck, all things considered. It’s got 20 creatures (including Vehicles and Spacecraft) that are mana value three or less, not including the commander. The early game is absolutely about getting on the battlefield and fast. Hopeful InitiateHopeful Initiate wants to attack to get to making counters, and it’s far from the only one looking to do so — twenty different permanents in the deck incentivize attacking via triggers or other value. By turn four, this deck should have an obscene amount of power on board.

From turn four onward, the deck wants to start setting up an endgame. Pyramid of the PantheonPyramid of the Pantheon is one of five permanents in the deck that quickly start making multiple mana, the most explosive of which is The Eternity ElevatorThe Eternity Elevator. If that one gets online, this deck gets nutty fast. It’s worth looking into a build that focuses more on the artifact synergies and some untap effects, but getting The Eternity ElevatorThe Eternity Elevator out and active alongside a copy of Sword of the ParunsSword of the Paruns gets to infinite levels in no time at all.

Once the Elevator is a creature, it can be equipped and twiddled to generate insane amounts of mana, then use that mana to equip it over to Brad Boimler, Eager EnsignBrad Boimler, Eager Ensign for several taps and untaps. His effect stacks, no “this triggers only once each turn” in sight. If he gets tapped ten times in a single turn, then an activation of Abandoned Air TempleAbandoned Air Temple puts eleven +1/+1 counters on the whole team all at once. All aboard the pain train!

There aren’t tutors or things to reliably get one or both out, which is just as well at this lower-powered bracket. Either card will do work on its own.

In this accelerated mid-game, the deck is going to step on the gas with card flow and haymakers. With over fifteen sources of repeatable card draw like Dawn of a New AgeDawn of a New Age the deck should get there fast. Venat, Heart of HydaelynVenat, Heart of Hydaelyn is a perfect representation of this shift from early to late game in how she can come down on turn three, draw some cards, then let us pay seven mana to destroy something and become an indestructible threat that churns out value. Using the various ramp pieces and playing out a swarm can overwhelm the table, but so can Dawnsire, Sunstar DreadnoughtDawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought, Extinguisher BattleshipExtinguisher Battleship or a Royal Talon Fighter JetRoyal Talon Fighter Jet where X=10. Your opponents will soon gnash their teeth and curse the name of… Brad.

Or maybe not.

Brad Boimler, Eager Ensign Commander Deck List

Conclusion

In the current era of design and printing speed, there’s a constant flood of new, cool cards, but the fun thing is that old cards don’t magically stop existing. Sometimes they get even cooler. I’m delighted to find a commander that can make me consider playing Pursuit of KnowledgePursuit of Knowledge. Brad is a cool, open-ended commander. I mentioned previously the Sagas build, but planeswalkers too, there are quite a few different sectors of stars to trek, err… galaxies to quest?

…Signing off for now.