commander · Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener
Call for Backup (MOC).
A Naya +1/+1 counter and token deck led by Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener — proliferate counters to grow your creatures, create tokens, and swing for lethal with a board of oversized threats.
The Commanders
Call for Backup is a Naya Commander deck built around the synergy between +1/+1 counters and token generation. Bright-Palm creates Soldier tokens whenever your creatures grow and proliferates to compound that growth across your entire board. The result is an aggressive deck that makes a huge number of tokens while simultaneously growing existing creatures to threatening sizes.
Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener is the engine. Whenever you put one or more +1/+1 counters on a creature you control, create a 1/1 white Soldier token. Proliferate at the beginning of your end step. The two abilities chain: counters create tokens, proliferate adds counters to every creature you control, those counters create more tokens next turn, proliferate fires again. Each turn cycle generates more tokens and larger creatures than the previous one.
Shalai and Hallar is the explosive alternate. Whenever you put one or more counters on a permanent, Shalai and Hallar deal damage equal to the number of counters placed to target opponent. In a deck that proliferates every end step, each end step deals damage to an opponent equal to the total number of counters distributed that turn. Against a board with twenty counters spread across creatures, proliferating deals twenty damage.
Key Cards
Kalonian Hydra
Enters with four +1/+1 counters, has trample, and whenever it attacks, double the +1/+1 counters on each creature you control. One attack doubles the entire board's counter total — and Bright-Palm fires a Soldier token for each counter placed. A turn-four Kalonian Hydra followed by Bright-Palm means attacking creates a wave of Soldier tokens. Two attacks later the Hydra is 16/16 and every other creature has doubled twice as well.
Hardened Scales
One green mana: whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on a creature you control, put one additional +1/+1 counter on it. Every counter effect places one more than expected. Combined with Bright-Palm's token generation and Kalonian Hydra's doubling, Hardened Scales compounds the counter math quickly. A creature getting four counters actually gets five, triggering a Soldier token, which gets picked up by proliferate for more counters. It's the cheapest card with the highest multiplier effect in the deck.
Forgotten Ancient
Gets +1/+1 counters each time a player casts a spell — one counter per spell. With three opponents casting spells, Forgotten Ancient accumulates six to ten counters per round. Each upkeep you may move any number of those counters to other creatures. Use him as a counter bank that fills from opponents' activity and pays out to your most important creatures each turn. With Bright-Palm creating tokens off each counter movement, Forgotten Ancient's upkeep becomes a token creation event.
Uncivil Unrest
A March of the Machine Commander exclusive. Creatures you control with counters have riot — they enter with a +1/+1 counter or haste. Any creature you cast can attack the turn it enters by choosing haste. Combined with Bright-Palm creating Soldier tokens, those tokens can attack immediately. The flexibility to choose between haste and a counter makes this card effective in both aggressive and incremental strategies.
Mikaeus, the Lunarch
Enters with X +1/+1 counters. Tap and remove a counter to put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control. This distributes counters at scale — remove one counter and every other creature gets one. With Bright-Palm in play, each counter placed by Mikaeus creates a Soldier token. A single activation of Mikaeus with ten creatures creates ten tokens. It's the deck's single most explosive token-creation event.
How to Play
Develop your mana base and deploy Hardened Scales and Bright-Palm as early as possible to maximize the token generation from every counter effect. Cast Forgotten Ancient to passively accumulate counters and use Kalonian Hydra as a game-ending attack threat. Proliferate every end step to compound counter growth.
Win through wide token attacks backed by Kalonian Hydra doubling the board mid-combat, or through Shalai and Hallar dealing massive damage to one opponent from a large end-step proliferate. The deck is most effective when Hardened Scales and Bright-Palm are both active — every counter effect generates one extra counter and one extra Soldier token, creating a multiplicative effect that overwhelms opponents within three or four turns.