Leonardo, Cutting Edge

Leonardo is a 2cmc 1/1 lifelink legendary that grows via +1/+1 counters whenever you gain life, making him a natural lifegain payoff and counters-voltron threat. His Sneak alternative cost lets him enter tapped and attacking for just {W} by returning another unblocked attacker, enabling aggressive tempo plays. He is signature in lifegain and counters-voltron shells, but requires board support (attackers to bounce for Sneak, life-gain triggers to grow) and is small without setup.

• Leonardo's Sneak cost requires an unblocked attacker to already exist during the declare blockers step — he can't be the first attacker you use Sneak with, so he needs a wide board or another evasive creature already swinging.

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• Because Leonardo has lifelink himself, once he's large enough to attack he becomes self-sustaining — each combat swing gains life and puts another counter on him without needing external lifegain sources.

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• In Brawl/Commander, the Sneak trigger happening at declare-blockers means opponents have already committed their blocks, letting you surprise them with a tapped-and-attacking Leonardo mid-combat — this is a notable tempo trick that bypasses summoning sickness restrictions on the turn he enters.

  tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6

• EDHREC rank: #10,819