Hello happy folks I hope your day is going super mega well! I thought it would be fun to look at my Top Ten Support Cards for Bear Beats! This is a multiplayer friendly archetype I created that I wrote up a primer on earlier this week here (https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-04012025-a-primer-on-playing-bear-beats-in-commander). Check it out! The quick version is that this is a midrange archetype that runs small power dorks with ETB effects to clear out boards and hands and then either brings them back with ninjutsu and self-bounce or recursion to the battlefield or hand for more.

This was designed as a Five Color template initially, but I have built one in real life in Commander around Abzan for you here ( https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-08202018-real-life-commander-abzan-bear-beats) around Sidar Kondo and Tymna.

#16. Mystic Snake

One of the few two power flashing countering dorks is this good lil' Snake. It can counter anything for two more than Counter proper and when grabbed instantly by later stuff is great for the surprise and is great stuff for the keeping you alive tough.

#15. Imperial Recruiter AND Recruiter of the Guard

This duo of three-drop 1/1s will ETB and then tutor out a small power dork for red or toughness for White to your hand and then shuffle. In a deck like ours where our dorks are removal of things or card draw, ramp like Solemn Simulacrum and then opposing discards this duo is nasty good at getting just what you need!

#14. Sigil of the New Dawn

This old school classic is next! This four-cost enchantment in White has a death trigger two-mana activation to send what just died back to your hand for another cast! And trigger. It's good since that means you can keep on reusing kickers like Thornscape Battlemage too. Or just other stuff too! When you run this might I suggest a few sacrificial lands since pulling cards from your deck for them seems rough like Phyrexian Tower to make two mana to pay for it and the recast?

#13. Citanul Flute

Another old school classic is next! This five-drop X tapping artifact is here. You can tutor for any dork of the cost you tapped for or less and show it and then cast it later! It's very good at giving you the best thing you need and a recursive instant speed creature tutor is nasty good. Get that Snake and counter with a blank hand! I always prefer to spend half of my mana and then use the other half for what you grabbed. It's broken with a higher hitting category of stuff.

#12. Aura Shards

I adore this three-cost Selensya enchantment that turns all arrivals of dorks onto your side into a "may" removal of an artifact or enchantment so it turns them all into a Reclamation Sage or Loran.

#11. Gaddock Teeg

This two-drop 2/2 Bear sized legendary dork shuts down everyone you too from casting pricey non-critter dorks. In a creature heavy brew like this? Nasty good! And most of your support spells can still be cast with it out like Aura Shards.

#10. Card Draw Engines with Small Power Stuff

Next up are the White dorks that give small powered dorks that arrive on your side card draw! The first printed was Mentor of the Meek that has when a small power arrives, even tokens, spend a mana to draw that card! For a long time, it was the only one, and then recently the Welcoming Vampire was printed and many more since with the floodgates now open. This also costs three and then has a 2/3 flying body and then and then no mana spent but just one card draw per turn. Love it much!

#9. Eladamri's Call

Our top tutor is this two-cost instant speed Selensya one that puts it into your hand unlike Worldly Tutor. Again, at instant speed grab a Snake or something else to knock that thing down! Also, see the next category for a way to break this instant speed tutor!

#8. Flash Engines

Next up are permanents that allow you to flash out your hand and then thus wait until stuff happens before using them. For example, if you've got in hand a Ravenous Chupacabra in hand with a flash enabler like Vedalken Orrery, then you can cast it when you are attacked, destroy one attacker and then chump another or trade with a 2/2. Why would someone attack you with mana open and cards in hand with an engine of these out? They'll go elsewhere and you can time your ETB stuff until most needed!

#7. Arabella, Abandoned Doll

This two-drop Boros legendary leader rocks a 1/3 body and then an attack trigger for her whenever you swing to drain life from each foe equal to your small power creature count. They don't need to be swinging just her. With her out, you might want to drop them first to kill someone faster.

#6. Portcullis

This four-drop is brokenly absurd! If there are two or more dorks on the battlefield, then when one arrivesl, it's exiled until this leaves play. So that means that your Solemn Simulacrum and Chupacabra will arrive, destroy or get their triggers, and then head to the exile zone until this dies, and then they will all come back later when this is popped for another slate of triggers! Just have two dorks out when you drop this, none can drop anything else, and get your trigger up and then destroy it with Thornscape Battlemage, etc!

#5. Cloudstone Curio

We want self-bounce for more casts and nothing self--bounces better than this mana free and recursive three-drop rock. Whenever a non-artifact arrives you can bounce a thing of that type and it's "may" so you don't have to. Love it much here for getting your dorks back to your hand! It's also castable with Gaddock Teeg out.

#4. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

My first Bear Beats had this dork in it! It's mono-Red, harder to cost with a five mana and triple red. With haste and a mana-free tap you can copy your nonlegendary dork and then swing with haste and get the triggers out there like another two cards drawn with Mulldrifter or another everyone discards like Liliana's Specter. And then swing! It dies, but that's enough to own the battlefield.

#3. Mass Sweepers

In any deck with smaller power dorks at multiplayer soon the bigger stuff will arrive so you want to sweep and ideally keep your stuff like Retribution of the Meek. The best sweeper though is Living Death since it'll destroy everything and then bring back everything at the same time. With a Portcullis out, you can choose which two will arrive first, so that's nasty together. You can easily win with the ETB triggers on your turn. The best sweeper for bigger powered stuff and the first one I add after the Death is Dusk // Dawn for four-mana to sweep all three powered stuff and then the five-mana Dawn to bring all of yours back for more beats. It was made for Bear Beats! Love them much! Also, a shout out to the planeswalker Elspeth, Sun's Champion with her +1 to make three dorks and then a repeatable -3 to destroy all bigger powered stuff. She's nasty here too!

#2. Meekstone and Crackdown

This one-drop artifact won't let any higher-powered things untap and then the three-drop enchantment won't bigger power non-White ones and both are castable with that Kithkin out. I adore this pair in decks much since they cannot attack or block your stuff, and they'll often force folks to drop more stuff and then you kill more with your sweepers!

#1. Delney, Streetwise Lookout AND Panharmonicon

Nice pair to end this list with! The mono-White dork arrives with a 2/2 and then your small power stuff is unblockable by larger power stuff and then your small power stuff doubles their triggers too. Then the four-cost rock doubles all ETB triggers from your artifacts and dorks. Love that doubling triggers and then the built-in evasion of Delney. Great way to end this!

There we are! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this! Make sure to check out the Primer this week and then let me know how you build your Bear Beats brew!