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Thundercloud Elemental: Best Commanders to Pair With Its Effect
Tempo in Commander is a language you learn to speak fluently, and Thundercloud Elemental gives you a surprisingly elegant accent to work with. This blue 7-mana creature from Scourge (uncommon, from the Scourge expansion) arrives with wings and a plan: bend the board to your will while you keep your options open for the late game. With Flying already on the stack, Thundercloud Elemental also carries two blue-tilted abilities that can shift combat and board state in a single turn. It’s the kind of card that rewards patience, cunning, and a little bit of late-game fireworks 🔥🧙♂️. The flavor text—“Some days it's better to stay inside.”—feels like a wink from the control gods, reminding you that blue loves to overthink every move until it’s perfectly timed.
Let’s unpack how this Elemental plays with a commander and why the right pairing can turn it into a tempo machine. In Commander, your commander sets the tempo, your deck fuels the tempo, and Thundercloud Elemental provides the tools to enforce the tempo on the battlefield. The two activated abilities cost 3UU each and achieve two complementary effects: tapping down creatures with toughness 2 or less, and forcing all other creatures to lose flying until end of turn. The combination can stall, strip evasive threats, and clear the way for a careful beatdown or a sneaky, game-ending combo. It’s blue’s version of a weather front moving across the board—and you’re the storm chaser 🎲⚔️.
Blue tempo shines when you can hum a tune that makes opponents think twice about every attack, block, or mana investment.
Why Thundercloud Elemental shines with a commander-led plan
- Tempo through taps: By tap-downting small creatures, you effectively reduce the number of blockers your foes can deploy without sacrificing your own board presence. This buys you time to draw, assemble protection, or deploy your own threats. It’s a soft lockdown that scales with the game’s length. 🧙♂️
- Winged control on a budget: The flying boost to all non-tapping threats means you control the skies and limit what can fly at you. It’s not a one-turn win condition, but it’s a strategic pivot that keeps opponents guessing about which path you’ll take next.
- Commander synergy potential: The right blue commander can turn Thundercloud Elemental into a reliable engine for card draw, countermagic, or even blink/recursion loops. The beauty of blue in Commander is not the single spell you cast, but the sequence you weave across turns.
Top commander pairings to maximize its effect
Here are thoughtful commander pairings—each bringing a different flavor to the Thundercloud Elemental engine. Each pairing leans into blue’s capacity for control, card advantage, and tempo, while staying thematically coherent with the Elemental’s abilities. 🧙♂️💎
Thassa, God of the Sea — tempo anchor and evasive pressure
Thassa is a timeless blue staple that valves tempo through strategic card flow and evasive offense. When your board is shaping up and Thundercloud Elemental is ready to tyrannize the skies, Thassa can augment your turns with surprise draws or late-game scrying. The combination of a flying threat fleet and targeted taps lets you lock down ground creatures while Thassa helps you find the next piece of permission, land ramp, or card draw. In long games, this pairing can outrun opponents by turning every turn into a careful, efficient operation. Add in bounce effects or extra turns from your blue toolbox, and Thundercloud Elemental becomes less of a finisher and more of a tempo engine. 🎨⚔️
Azami, Lady of Scrolls — wizardly wisdom and card-draw leverage
Azami is the quintessential wizard commander for blue-led decks that prize card advantage and strategic planning. With Thundercloud Elemental on the board, you gain the luxury of locking down a portion of the opponent’s board while drawing into answers, counterspells, or additional gas. Azami’s prowess with wizards and blue’s card-draw suite makes it feasible to reach the critical mass you need to win through attrition or a polished finisher. The two 3UU activations give you room to tempo out threats, while Azami keeps your hand full for the inevitable late-game swing. It’s an elegant, cerebral pairing: think chess, but with more lightning. 🔥🎲
Brago, King Eternal — classic blink tempo
Brago is a well-loved blinking commander that thrives on reusing ETB effects and tapping/untapping synergies. With Thundercloud Elemental, you can craft a sequence where you tap down the little blockers, then set up a blink loop to re-tap more creatures on subsequent turns. Brago’s presence invites a control-heavy game plan: you ride the tempo of your tapping while blinking away your threats to replay their utility and maintain pressure. It’s a delightful blue play pattern that rewards precise sequencing and patience—the kind of vibe that feels like unboxing a new puzzle every night at the table. 🧙♂️💎
Note that the exact commander you choose may influence your color balance and strategy. For example, Baral, Chief of Compliance or similar UR elements can slot into a multi-color build that still appreciates blue’s tempo and card advantage. The key is to lean into Thundercloud Elemental as a durable tempo engine while your commander provides the draw/counter/mana-smoothing levers you need to push ahead in a crowded game with four or more players.
Practical deck-building tips
- Lean into a blue-heavy mana base: plenty of islands, some basic to ensure consistent draw and counterplay. Include some color-happy utility lands and mana rocks to hit the critical five to seven mana range necessary for Thundercloud Elemental’s big two activations.
- Pack resilient protection: countermagic and bounce spells keep you safe while you navigate the turns when opponents are pressured by your tempo play.
- Balance your win conditions: Thundercloud Elemental can win by attrition, but it’s also a fantastic backdrop for a more decisive late-game finisher that your commander's abilities enable.
- Keep synergy in mind: the less you rely on a single card, the more you can surprise opponents who expect a predictable blue control shell.
As you’re building toward that next Friday night commander session, remember: the best pairings aren’t just about raw power—they’re about how your commander and your Elemental work in harmony, creating cycles of taps, untaps, and sudden drops that tilt a table in your favor. It’s blue magic at its most confident, a little nostalgic, and absolutely ready for a fresh round of games. 🎨🧙♂️
If you’re setting up shop for long, thoughtful matches, a comfortable, sturdy stand can help you stay focused. Check out the handy Phone Click on Grip Back-of-Phone Stand Holder below—perfect for keeping notes or a quick card reference within arm’s reach during those epic turns.