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Bard, King of Dale

Bard, King of Dale

Legendary Creature — Human Noble Archer

Bard, King of Dale wants a deck that makes an army of small creatures and attacks with all of them. It also works in a deck built around Archers, Humans or Nobles.

  • Mana cost4 genericwhiteblue
  • White, Blue ()
  • Power / toughness3 / 5
  • RarityMythic

Reach, vigilance

If you would draw a card except the first one you draw in each of your draw steps, draw two cards instead.

If one or more tokens would be created under your control, twice that many of those tokens are created instead.

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Archetypes
Themes

Cards That Fit Bard, King of Dale

Picked for what they do in Bard's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Bard's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Sol RingOpen the full glossary

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The 6 Cards

Does what Bard, King of Dale does6

The 6 Cards

Rulings for Bard, King of Dale

explain how Bard works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary

Wizards of the Coast 29 Jun 2026

Bard's last ability only applies to tokens that are created. Copies of permanent spells that resolve become tokens on the battlefield, but those tokens are not created and will not be doubled by Bard's ability.

Wizards of the Coast 29 Jun 2026

Because Bard, King of Dale is legendary, it's unlikely that one player will control two. However, if that happens, cards drawn by that player will be multiplied by four. Three Bards will multiply by eight, and so on.

Wizards of the Coast 29 Jun 2026

For Bard's last ability, all of the tokens enter the battlefield simultaneously. They'll be created with the same name, color, type and subtype, abilities, power, toughness, and so on.

Wizards of the Coast 29 Jun 2026

If an effect creates more than one kind of token, it'll create twice as many of each kind. For example, if you control Bilbo, Fellow Conspirator and Bard, King of Dale and you create a Food token, you'll create two Food tokens and two Treasure tokens (regardless of the order you chose to apply the replacement effects).

Wizards of the Coast 29 Jun 2026

If the effect creating the tokens instructs you to do something with those tokens at a later time, like exiling them at the end of combat, you'll do that for all the tokens.

Wizards of the Coast 29 Jun 2026

If the token you create has any "as [this permanent] enters" or "[this permanent] enters with" abilities, first determine how many tokens are being created, then apply those abilities individually for each one. For example, if a token with "You may have [this permanent] enter as a copy of any creature on the battlefield" would be created (such as an embalmed Vizier of Many Faces), the resulting two tokens can each copy a different creature.

Wizards of the Coast 29 Jun 2026

If two or more replacement effects would apply to a card-drawing event, the player drawing the card chooses the order in which to apply them.

Wizards of the Coast 29 Jun 2026

If you control Bard, King of Dale and create an Army token because you amass and didn't already control an Army, you will create two Army tokens. However, since you can only put the counters on one of the tokens, the other remains a 0/0 creature and will be put into its owner's graveyard the next time state-based actions are checked.

Wizards of the Coast 29 Jun 2026

Similarly, the effect of the last ability on multiple Bard, King of Dale is cumulative. If you control two, you'll create four times the number of tokens.

9 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Bard, and what they share.

Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryWUPlayers write colors as letters: W for white, U for blue. Blue is U because B was already taken by black.TokensToken decks fill the battlefield with small creatures made by their cards, then attack with all of them or make them all bigger at once. A token is a creature (or other object) that a card creates, not a card from your deck.Open the Tokens pageToken DoublerCreates extra copies whenever you would make tokens: one trigger becomes two creatures, two Treasures, and so on. Doubling Season, Anointed ProcessionOpen the Token Doubler pageToken PayoffRewards you for making or having tokens: counting them, copying them, or making every one of them bigger. These are the cards that turn a lot of small creatures into a way to actually win. Anointed Procession, Trostani, Selesnya's VoiceOpen the Token Payoff pageDrawDraws you extra cards. More cards means more choices every turn, and in a 100-card deck it is the main way to find the pieces you need. Rhystic Study, SkullclampOpen the Draw page