Storm, Queen of Wakanda: The Power Lever

The Wakanda flyer scales off one number, her own power. On attack she hands another attacker flying and a boost equal to her power, and she strikes down any flyer that comes at you. Raise Storm's power and every part of her grows at once.
Storm is a flying Wakanda hero. When she attacks, she gives another one of your attackers flying and makes it bigger by her power. She also zaps enemy flyers that attack you. The bigger Storm's power, the stronger all of this becomes.

This Storm, Queen of Wakanda deck tech is inspired by Salubrious Snail's published deckbuilding framework. Storm's oracle text and color identity are from Scryfall (Marvel Super Heroes Commander, read 2026-07-14); the Wakanda shell and inclusion figures come from the EDHREC Wakanda pages. Not authored or endorsed by Salubrious Snail or EDHREC.

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Storm, Queen of Wakanda costs {3}{G}{W}, a 4/5 Selesnya flyer whose two triggered abilities both read off her power. She flies. When she attacks, another target attacking creature gains flying and gets plus X and zero, where X is Storm's power. And whenever a creature with flying attacks you, Storm deals damage equal to her power to it. She is a Wakanda Forever alt, and read on her own she is a green-white flyers deck that pours every buff into one commander and lets that single number do the offense, the evasion handoff, and the air defense at the same time.

Storm costs five mana and is a 4/5 flyer. On attack she gives another attacker flying and adds her power to it. She also deals her power to enemy flyers that attack you. Both of her special abilities use her power number, and a bigger Storm is a bigger threat herself, so the deck is about making Storm as big as possible.

The engine, one number three ways

Storm turns her own power into three effects. On offense, her attack trigger takes a second creature and adds her power to it and grants flying, so one pump on Storm becomes two evasive threats in the air. On defense, her third ability deals her power to any flyer that attacks you, which turns her into a repeatable answer to the decks that come from above. And her own body is a flyer, so her power is also a clock in the air toward commander damage. Every point you add to Storm improves all three at once.

That is the whole build insight. Most creature decks spread their buffs across a wide board and hope enough of it connects. Storm asks the opposite: concentrate the buffs on the commander, because her power is the multiplier on offense, defense, and the handoff. A wide anthem still helps the team, and a counter or aura on Storm feeds her handoff, her flyer punish, and her clock at once.

Storm uses her power three ways: to make another attacker bigger, to zap enemy flyers, and as her own attack damage in the air. So instead of spreading pumps across your whole team, stack them on Storm and all three powers get stronger together.

The power lever

X is Storm's power, so raising it raises the buff she hands out, the damage she deals to attacking flyers, and her own air clock together. At her printed 4 she turns a small attacker into a real threat and closes commander damage in six swings. Pump her to 8 and the handoff is plus eight, the flyer punish is a removal spell, and her own clock drops to three connects. The table below is the single most useful read for the build.

Storm powerBuff to another attackerFlyer punishSwings to 21
4 (printed)plus 446
6plus 664
8plus 883
10plus 10103

Read the buff column as a second threat and the punish column as removal, both priced in one stat. At power 4 the handoff turns a 3/3 into a 7/3 flyer. At power 8 it turns the same 3/3 into an 11/3 flyer. The construction takeaway is direct: counters, anthems that touch Storm, auras, and Equipment are the engine, because each point of power is worth a point of handoff, a point of air defense, and a faster commander-damage clock.

The bigger Storm's power, the bigger the buff she hands out, the harder she zaps enemy flyers, and the fewer swings to win with commander damage. At power 4 she needs six hits; at power 8, three. So pile counters, auras, and equipment onto Storm.

The buff targets, who gets the handoff

Storm's attack trigger needs a second attacker worth the plus X and zero, so the build wants creatures that convert a big power boost into more than one hit of damage. Trample carries the extra power past a chump block. Double strike doubles the whole boosted number. A combat-damage trigger turns the handoff into card draw or removal. The ideal target is a cheap creature with one of those keywords that costs little and profits hugely from an eight-point swing.

The trigger grants flying on its own, so the target does not need evasion already, which widens the pool to ground creatures that otherwise would not connect. What it should not be is a creature that wastes the extra power, a lone vanilla body with no trample gives back most of the boost to a blocker. Keep a handful of trample and double-strike bodies so Storm always has a worthy second attacker on her swing.

Storm's attack buff should go to a creature that uses the extra power well: trample gets the damage past blockers, double strike doubles it, and a hit-trigger turns it into cards or removal. Since she also grants flying, even a ground creature works as the target.

The flyer punish, a free removal spell

Storm's third ability deals her power to any creature with flying that attacks you, which is a repeatable removal effect the deck gets for free. Against a fliers deck it answers attackers as they are declared, dealing her power to each incoming flyer before combat damage, so she takes nothing back. Its size grows with the same power boosts that fuel the offense. It rewards the same construction, since a Storm at power 8 clears most attacking flyers outright, and a printed Storm at power 4 kills the smaller ones without trading. The ability points every power boost at both halves of the game, the beatdown and the defense.

How the punish times out. The trigger fires when a flying creature is declared as an attacker against you, and it resolves in the declare-attackers step, so Storm deals her power before any combat damage and takes nothing back. A creature that gains flying after it was already declared as an attacker does not set the trigger off, and a creature put onto the battlefield already attacking was never declared as an attacker, so it does not count as a creature that attacks you either.

Storm also punishes enemy flyers: when one attacks you, she deals her power to it. That is free removal that gets bigger as Storm grows, so the same pumps protect you and win the game.

Dead Draw Audit

Snail's method scores a card by how often it does its job and whether it earns its slot with the commander gone. Here are five cards through that lens, with the power-lever read deciding the close calls.

Dead Draw Audit: five cards scored on job, support, solo value, and verdict.
CardPrimary jobSupport in the 99Value without StormVerdict
A repeatable +1/+1 counter source on StormRaises the power that fuels her handoff, punish, and clockVery high, every Storm abilitySome, it grows any creaturecore
A cheap trample or double-strike attackerTurns the plus X handoff into real damageHigh, the attack trigger each turnGood, an evasive beater on its owncore
Protective Equipment (hexproof or indestructible)Keeps Storm alive and adds powerHigh, protects the whole planGood on any commandersupported
A team-wide anthemAdds one power to Storm and the boardMedium, one point to the leverGood, buffs the teamsupported
A vanilla ground beater with no evasionA body onlyLow, wastes the handoff to a blockerDepends on its statssituational

The vanilla beater drops to situational because it gives most of an eight-point handoff back to a blocker, where a trampler or a double striker banks it. Protective Equipment climbs, since a commander that carries every buff is the first target for removal, and losing Storm resets the whole plan. Run every questioned card through job, support, solo value, and the power lever before it stays.

This grades each card by its job and whether it helps Storm. Counters and protective equipment on Storm are best because they feed all three of her powers and keep her alive. A plain creature with no trample or flying is weak, because it wastes the big buff on a blocker.

Beyond the Dead Draw Audit: the construction audit

The Dead Draw Audit scores single cards. This construction audit scores the whole ninety-nine on the power lever and its support. The first rule is a floor on effects that raise Storm's power, the second is a package of worthy buff targets, and the third is protection, since the deck folds its resources into one commander and a removal spell on Storm undoes the turn.

TargetCountWhy
Power boosts that touch Storm12-15Counters, auras, Equipment, anthems, the whole lever
Worthy buff targets10-12Trample, double strike, or combat-damage triggers
Protection for Storm5-7Hexproof, indestructible, protection, recast value
Interaction8-10Green-white removal and a reset to reach the swing
Ramp7-9Reach five mana and the pump suite early
Lands36-37A clean two-color Selesnya base

Read the power boosts and the buff targets as one system with two halves. The boosts make the lever tall, and the targets turn the handoff into damage, so a deck heavy on one and light on the other stalls. Report two numbers when you tune the list, the count of power boosts that reach Storm and the count of trample or double-strike targets. A build that piles counters on Storm with no worthy second attacker wastes her best trigger, and a wide creature deck with no way to grow Storm leaves her abilities small. The honest measure is Storm's realistic mid-game power and whether a good target is on the board when she swings.

Every revision should hold the two floors and the protection count first. A new power boost should replace a weaker boost or a spare slot, ideally one that also protects Storm or draws a card. A new creature should earn its slot as a buff target through trample, double strike, or a hit trigger, or as its own evasive threat. Protection is the tax the deck pays for stacking value on one body, and it should not be cut for a fifteenth anthem.

Storm is one number pointed three ways. Raise her power and the offense, the defense, and the clock all grow together.

To build Storm: run 12 to 15 ways to raise her power, 10 to 12 creatures worth buffing (trample or double strike), and 5 to 7 protection cards so she survives removal. Do not stack all counters with no target to buff, and do not go wide with no way to grow Storm.

The shell, a Selesnya flyers plan

Storm is a legal Wakanda Forever commander in green and white, and she wants a different ninety-nine from the artifact plans on the T'Challa and Shuri pages. Where those lean on artifact count, Storm leans on creature power and evasion. The shell is a green-white midrange creature deck built around counters, protective Equipment, and a spine of trample and double-strike attackers, with the mana fixing and removal that green and white provide. The monarch and Equipment sub-themes the Wakanda box already runs fit Storm well, since both keep her attacking and keep cards flowing.

The interaction and the ramp carry over from any Selesnya midrange list, so the build only changes the payoff. Point the buffs at Storm, keep a bench of worthy targets, and protect the commander that holds the plan. Build toward the construction audit above, a tall power lever, a package of trample and double-strike bodies, and enough protection that a single removal spell does not reset the game.

Storm wants a different deck from T'Challa and Shuri, who care about artifacts. She wants creatures, counters, and protective equipment in green and white. Use the Wakanda box's monarch and equipment pieces, point the pumps at Storm, and keep some big trampling creatures to buff.

Sources. Storm, Queen of Wakanda oracle text and color identity via Scryfall (Marvel Super Heroes Commander, read 2026-07-14): {3}{G}{W}, Legendary Creature Mutant Noble Hero, 4/5, color identity Selesnya (green-white); "Flying", "Whenever Storm attacks, until end of turn, another target attacking creature gains flying and gets +X/+0, where X is Storm's power", and "Whenever a creature with flying attacks you, Storm deals damage equal to her power to that creature". The power table is direct arithmetic: the buff and the flyer punish equal Storm's power, and the swings-to-21 column divides 21 commander damage by her power and rounds up. The Wakanda shell and the artifact plans are on the T'Challa and Shuri deck techs; inclusion context is on the EDHREC Marvel read and the Marvel rankings. Inspired by Salubrious Snail's published framework; neither Salubrious Snail nor EDHREC authored or endorsed it.