Ben Bateman video revives Roar of Resistance for Commander token decks

Roar of Resistance spent years sitting in the background of Commander, but Ben Bateman’s recent video pushed it back into the conversation. The enchantment from Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander costs {1}{R}, gives creature tokens you control haste, and lets you pay {1}{R} whenever one or more creatures attack to give creatures attacking your opponents and/or planeswalkers they control +2/+0 until end of turn.

That is exactly the kind of text box that rewards go-wide decks. In a token shell, Roar of Resistance turns a pile of small bodies into a real clock, and it does it at the moment combat starts, not after you have already committed mana to a static anthem. MTG Rocks argued that the card belongs in more token lists than it currently sees, and the case is strongest in Goblin tribal, where Krenko, Mob Boss already wants to flood the board and convert every turn into damage. Krenko’s ability counts each Goblin you control, including Krenko itself, so the deck naturally snowballs into the kind of board state Roar wants to exploit.

The multiplayer angle matters just as much. Roar of Resistance is not only a haste enabler, it is a political pressure card. The attack trigger can force awkward blocks, and the +2/+0 bonus can be aimed at different opponents and planeswalkers they control, which makes it much better at spreading damage around a table than a simple anthem. That is why trigger-doubler decks like Isshin, Two Heavens as One and Firebender Ascension make it especially nasty. Isshin makes attack-triggered abilities of permanents you control trigger an additional time, while Firebender Ascension can copy an attack-triggered ability once it reaches four or more quest counters.

The card is not obscure by Commander standards, either. EDHREC lists Roar of Resistance in 25,177 decks, while MTG Decks shows 68 decks over the last 365 days and 16 combos, which suggests the card is known, just not always top of mind. Scryfall lists it as a rare from Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander, released on February 10, 2023, and notes two print entries in the ONC set gallery. If you want to test it this week, start by cutting the weakest slow anthem or one-shot pump in your token list. Roar of Resistance does more than buff attackers. It turns a board of tokens into immediate table-wide pressure, and that is why it keeps coming back whenever Commander gets combat-heavy again.