You've probably heard the old saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." Well, in terms of MTG, that translates to "The creature with the biggest mouth (and a triggered combat ability) gets to advance entire board states."

In today's Mechanics Overview Segment, I'm here to give you what might be the ultimate hype-man mechanic, though you may have never guessed it from its humble track record: Battle Cry. It's undeniably the unsung ability behind most, if not all, go wide aggro strategies, a triggered ability so loud that your other creatures get all the glory, leaving the Battle Cry creature itself out of the fun. Some might call that selfless. Others might call it forgettable. Either way, Battle Cry's certainly got style, especially if you deliver that cry with the confidence that only a half-baked always-go-face strategy can provide.

What Is Battle Cry?

Whenever this creature attacks, each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.

Long story short, Battle Cry's essentially the inverse of the Exalted ability, where Exalted rewards you for attacking with only one creature, Battle Cry rewards you for attacking with everyone (which is exactly how you should always do combat if you ask me).

The History of Battle Cry

Battle Cry debuted in Mirrodin Besieged (2011). To this day, you may still be able to hear the metal clang of swords, see the sparks flying, and feel the fervor of Mirrans rallying against the Phyrexian incursion. Of course, Battle Cry eventually also popped up in a handful of other places, because once you learn how to shout a good Battle Cry, you simply never forget:

• Unstable (2017): Because silver-bordered sets can never resist an ability that actively encourages utter chaos.
• Modern Horizons (2019): Where all manner of half-remembered mechanics from Magic's past found new life.
• Warhammer 40,000 Forces of the Imperium Commander Deck (2022): Battle Cry = "For the Emperor!"
• Dominaria United Commander (2022): A single cameo with Rosnakht, Heir of Rohgahh, but we still appreciate the throwback.
• Unfinity Sticker Sheets (2022): It's Unfinity, need I say more?
• Phyrexia: All Will Be One (2023): Ria Ivor, Bane of Bladehold, compleated and still hollering her classic Battle Cry.
• Alchemy: Eldraine (2023): As a tribute to Brothers Yamazaki on Syr Joshua and Syr Saxon.

Wait, Does Battle Cry Stack?

And just in case you're still scratching your head thinking, "But wait, is Battle Cry like Exalted, or is it like Infect, or does it do something else entirely?" Let me clarify:

• If you have a single creature with Battle Cry, you get one instance of the buff per combat step.
• Now, if you have two creatures with Battle Cry attacking, each one triggers separately, and each other attacking creature gets +1/+0 from each trigger. So the rest of your team effectively gets +2/+0. Meanwhile, each Battle Cry creature sees the other one's scream, so they buff each other, but again, not themselves.
• If, by some stroke of absolute mania, you somehow bestow a single creature with multiple instances of Battle Cry, then guess what? Each instance of Battle Cry will trigger off that same creature.

The Best Battle Cry Creatures Out There

Now that we've fully established the fundamental "shout at your team, watch them get bigger" concept, let's highlight some of the best Battle Cry cards at your disposal.

Signal Pest

You've definitely seen this adorable little Pest floating about from time to time. Signal Pest is just one colorless mana, has Battle Cry, and sports some pseudo-evasion via the dreaded "can't be blocked except by creatures with flying or reach." It doesn't buff itself, of course, but it's still an all-star in various go-wide strategies. Also, it's an Artifact creature, so synergy with all your Artifact nonsense is basically guaranteed (Pepperidge Farm remembers Affinity).

Hero of Bladehold

Definitely one of the flashiest Battle Cry cards ever printed and reprinted recently in the Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander Decks. Hero of Bladehold is a 3/4 for 4 mana that not only rallies your troops but also makes additional soldiers when it swings (for you to Battle Cry again later). Pair this with Isshin, Two Heavens as One, and just sit back, relax, and watch people do mental math while you, yourself, pretend to have done the math ahead of time. Remember, math is for blockers.

Goblin Wardriver

A classic from the original Mirrodin Besieged days. If you're building a red-based aggressive list, you'd do well to toss in this rowdy Goblin. This 2/2 for RR is basically a testament to just how much fun can be had with a simple Battle Cry line of text. It's cheap, it's on curve, and you can trust it to always be yelling something about going face.

Reckless Pyrosurfer

Here's a relatively new gem from Modern Horizons 3 that translates lands into more cries. You drop a land, Reckless Pyrosurfer gains Battle Cry. Was the land you played a fetch land? Crack that bad boy, and the Pyrosurfer gets another instance of Battle Cry. Oh, you're also playing Scapeshift, Scute Mob, and Concordant Crossroads? Now, we're talking.

Sanguine Evangelist

Sanguine Evangelist is another excellent example of how Battle Cry can contribute to a go-wide strategy. Not only does this 2/1 Vampire Cleric boost your other attackers, but it also brings a friend on the way in, or even on its way out. This card's so effective, in fact, that it still sees play in updated lists of Boros Convoke in Standard as one of its top-end finishers (not counting Knight-Errant of Eos with its Convoke cost, of course).

Battle Cry Loud, Die Proud!

So there you have it, Battle Cry in all its unsubtle, occasionally overlooked glory. The next time you're sitting down to brew a deck, maybe consider skipping the typical strategies of infinite combos or unstoppable value engines. Why not just take a night off from all the convoluted lines and instead try something that's just about yelling, "CHAAAARGE!" and making your token army 30% more threatening than usual? And while you might not always win, at least you get to shout at the top of your lungs before dying.

And, with that, that's all I've got to cry about for Battle Cry. As always, happy brewing, and may you find more ways to stack multiple instances of Battle Cry than I could (seriously, while the idea's certainly doable, I had a pretty hard time finding ways to do so efficiently). Until next time!