How to build Worf, Defiant Commander

Battlefront counts the opponents you attacked, not the creatures you attacked with. So this list is built to put one body in front of every player each turn, and to have the mana ready for whatever that turns over.

One attacker at each player beats nine at the same one

The count is of players, not creatures, and not damage. A swing of nine creatures at the weakest opponent exiles one card. Three Goblin tokens sent one apiece exile three, even if all three die to blockers. So decide who gets attacked before you decide how hard, send the smallest creature you have at each player who needs counting, and save the real damage for whoever is closest to dead. Windbrisk Heights asks for three different attackers in a turn before it gives up its hidden card, which a spread like that provides every time.

Worf does not need to be in the attack, and usually should not be. Recasting him from the command zone costs two more every time, and the trigger works just as well with him standing behind the attackers as a blocker. His own Klingon has haste, so on the turn he lands it can be one of the three.

Two kinds of attacker do not count. A creature sent at a planeswalker attacks that planeswalker and not its controller, so that player is only counted if something else goes at them directly. And a creature that arrives already in combat skipped the declaration that the count is built from. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar makes a Human attacking each opponent, and Hero of Bladehold, Ainok Strike Leader and Caesar all make tokens in the same way. That damage is real, but those tokens add nobody to the count. What they give you instead is next turn's declared attackers, already on the table.

The count is settled at the declaration, so the attackers are free to die

Battlefront asks which opponents you attacked this turn, in the past tense. Once attackers are declared that answer is fixed, and nothing that happens to those creatures afterwards changes it. So every attacker becomes a resource the moment it has been declared, and the list has several ways to cash one in.

Goblin Bombardment is the cleanest. Declare one token at each player, let the trigger go on the stack, then throw the tokens at whatever needs 1 damage before blockers are chosen. Pitiless Plunderer turns each of those deaths into a Treasure, and a Treasure lasts through the end of combat into the second main phase, which is where most of what Battlefront exiled can be cast. Caesar asks for a creature as you attack and pays for it with a card, two hasty Soldiers or damage. Skullclamp turns any 1/1 still standing after combat into two cards for one mana, and Blood Artist and Cruel Celebrant drain the table for every one of them.

Iroas, God of Victory is the opposite answer. It prevents all damage dealt to your attacking creatures and gives each of them menace, so a 1/1 can walk into any board and walk back out. Run it beside the sacrifice outlets rather than instead of them: the tokens Iroas keeps alive are tomorrow's attackers, and the ones you sacrifice were never going to block anything.

Worf, Intelligence Contractor is the purest version of all this. When he enters he takes one creature costing 3 or less from each opponent until end of turn, untapped and with haste. That is three extra attackers, one borrowed from each player, which covers the whole table with nothing of your own committed. Once they are declared they can go into Goblin Bombardment one at a time, which ends the loan early and for good.

Karlach's extra combat starts from the first combat's count

X is the number of opponents attacked this turn, not this combat, and that matters as soon as there is a second one. Karlach, Fury of Avernus untaps everything that attacked in the first combat, gives it first strike and adds another combat phase straight after. When Battlefront triggers again in that second combat it counts every player hit in the first, so a single creature attacking anyone is three more cards. Combat Celebrant does the same thing once a turn by exerting as it attacks.

Isshin, Two Heavens as One doubles the trigger itself. Every ability that triggers on attacking triggers an extra time, Battlefront included, so each combat exiles six. Isshin also doubles Mishra, Claimed by Gix, Hellrider and Karazikar, which between them are most of how this deck actually closes a game. Mishra is the one to order with care. It counts attacking creatures as it resolves, and Adeline's Humans are attacking creatures, so put Adeline's trigger on the stack last and let it resolve first.

With Karlach and Isshin both out, a turn exiles at least twelve cards, which is more than any mana base here can cast. Past six or so the extra cards stop being card advantage and start being choice: you play the best of them and let the rest go.

The cards arrive in the middle of combat, so the ramp has to be Treasure

Battlefront exiles during the declare attackers step. A creature or sorcery that comes off the top there waits for the second main phase or your next turn, and the window shuts when that next turn ends. So mana has to last from one main phase to the next, and a Treasure does where floating mana cannot. The list counts six mana rocks, which reads low for a three colour deck. The rest of its ramp is Smothering Tithe, Pitiless Plunderer, Professional Face-Breaker and Black Market Connections, four cards that make Treasure without anyone tapping a land. Kirk, Commanding Officer adds one more card off the top whenever you attack while your creatures have 8 power between them, playable that turn only.

Commander Liara Portyr is the other half. She triggers on the same attack, and every spell you cast from exile that turn costs less, where X is the number of players being attacked. The reduction does not care which card put a spell in exile, so each of the three Worf found costs up to three less in the second main phase, and Liara exiles three of her own on top.

Spend what is in exile before what is in your hand. A card in hand keeps, and a card Battlefront exiled is gone at the end of your next turn. Lands count as well: one that comes off the top is next turn's land drop if this turn's is already spent.

Koloth gives every player two Tribbles, and theirs have to pick someone else

Koloth, Tribble Hunter is the Star Trek card most shaped like this deck. At your end step every player makes two 1/1 Tribbles that cannot block, and every Tribble gets +1/+0 and is goaded. Yours are two fresh 2/1s each turn that have to attack, which is exactly the job this list needs filled. The opponents' Tribbles cannot block your attackers, and in each combat on their own turns they must attack a player other than you if they can.

Troubling Tribbles feeds the same card. It makes a token copy of itself at each of your upkeeps, and every copy carries the same trigger, so one becomes two, then four, then eight. Under Koloth all of them are 1/1 attackers that never cost another card.

Every opponent you attacked gets a turn before you do

Hitting all three players every turn is how this deck draws, and it is also how it makes three enemies. The list answers the return swing in three ways. The first is bodies that attack and still block. Intangible Virtue gives every token vigilance along with +1/+1, Worf himself stays home as a 3/4, and the Tribbles Koloth hands the other boards are pointed away from you already. Militant Angel reads the same count Worf does, so cast after a full spread it brings three 2/2 Knights with vigilance, blockers tonight and attackers tomorrow.

The second is pushing the next fight somewhere else. Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant triggers for every player you attack, tapping one of their creatures and goading it, so that creature cannot block now and must attack someone other than you on its controller's turn. Its other ability draws you a card whenever one opponent attacks another. Firemane Commando draws you a card whenever you attack with two or more creatures, and hands each other player a card when they attack with two or more and leave you out of it.

The third is answers for the turn it goes wrong anyway. Settle the Wreckage exiles every creature one player has attacking. Teferi's Protection, Flawless Maneuver and Boros Charm keep the board through a sweeper, and Flawless Maneuver costs nothing while Worf is on the battlefield.

The core list

Thirty-four creatures, thirty-five lands and Worf at the top. Prices are each card's lowest paper listing, and pointing at a name brings the card up.

Load into the deck builder Copy decklist

“Load into the deck builder” opens this list in your account, ready to edit or save. “Copy decklist” gives you plain text for Moxfield, Archidekt or Arena, with no account needed.

One pip of each colour by turn two, and the double white can wait

The 35 lands make 26 white sources, 25 red and 24 black. On the play every colour clears 90 percent for a single pip by turn two, white at 92.1, red at 91.2 and black at 90.1. That is the number this mana base exists to hit, since Worf wants one of each and most of the creatures want one of something.

Two of the same colour by turn three is a different story, at 74.2 percent for white. The cards asking are Adeline at three mana, Hero of Bladehold and Settle the Wreckage at four and Militant Angel at five, so only Adeline really wants it that early, and she is just as good a turn later. Red reads 71.8 percent on the same test and black 69.4, but the two black pips belong to The Duras Sisters alone, whose cost is two hybrid black or red symbols. Any pair of those two colours casts it, so the black row is not a real demand.

The cheap list draws more per combat and casts less of it

Dropping to the budget rung takes the price from at least $481 to at least $121, and the bracket floor disappears entirely, because Smothering Tithe, Teferi's Protection and Jeska's Will are the three Game Changers and all three leave. Most of the saving is lands. Fetches, shocks, the Battlebond lands and the Triome become gain lands, slow lands, an Evolving Wilds and the three Star Trek planets, Qo'noS, Bajor and Cardassia Prime, none of which is priced yet. The core list has three lands that always enter tapped and this one has eight.

The engine changes shape rather than shrinking. Karlach leaves and Windcrag Siege arrives, set to Mardu, which does exactly what Isshin does. With both on the battlefield Battlefront triggers three times per combat, so the cheap list exiles nine cards a combat to the core list's six. What it cannot do is pay for them. Smothering Tithe and Black Market Connections were two of the four Treasure makers, and Signets stand in for them. Bitterblossom becomes Dragon Fodder and Purphoros becomes Impact Tremors, which deals half the damage per creature for a fraction of the price.

Going up to bracket 4 costs at least $2,235, and ten Game Changers set that floor. Mana Vault, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond and Ancient Tomb get Worf onto the battlefield sooner, and the land count falls to 34 to make room. Isshin or Karlach is one Demonic Tutor or Vampiric Tutor away, and Enlightened Tutor fetches Skullclamp or Goblin Bombardment. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is a one mana attacker that makes Treasure when it connects. Grand Abolisher stops the table casting anything on your turn, which protects the combat Battlefront needs, and Deflecting Swat is free while Worf is out. What leaves is the defensive slack: Settle the Wreckage, Militant Angel and Windbrisk Heights all go, which is the right trade at a table that expects the game to end before a return swing matters.

FAQ

When can Worf, Defiant Commander be played in Commander?

From 13 November 2026, the release date of Star Trek and Star Trek Commander. From that morning he is a legal commander, and a deck check that refused him the day before was reading the release date, not judging the card.

Does Worf have to attack for Battlefront to trigger?

No. It triggers whenever you attack with any creature, so Worf can stay back as a blocker. What it counts is how many opponents you attacked that turn, so one creature at each of three opponents exiles three cards.

Do tokens created already attacking count for Worf's ability?

No. A token that arrives already attacking skipped the declaration, so the player it hits only counts if a creature you declared went at them too. Tokens from Adeline, Resplendent Cathar or Hero of Bladehold still deal their damage, and they are ready to be declared on your next turn.

Should I buy Worf's Star Trek Commander deck or build this list?

The box has a suggested price of $74.99 and puts Worf on the table with a full deck around him. Its complete decklist was not in the card databases when this page was written, so nothing here compares the two card by card. If you want Worf for less than these singles cost, the box is the cheaper start, and this list is one direction to take it afterwards.

How much does this Worf deck cost?

At the lowest paper price for every card, the core list comes to at least $481, the budget version to $121 and the bracket 4 version to $2,235. All three are minimums: the cards new in Star Trek have no price to add until it is released.

What bracket is this Worf deck?

Bracket 3 at the least, because Smothering Tithe, Teferi's Protection and Jeska's Will are Game Changers. Dropping those three, as the budget version does, leaves no floor at all, and the bracket 4 version runs ten. Worf himself is not a Game Changer today, and that list only changes at bracket updates.