In Commander, there are a lot of different ways to do powerful things on a budget. Whether you bring back some nasty artifacts from Magic’s past, or remove your opponents’ commanders on a more permanent basis, you can do powerful things for just a few dollars.
Zevlor, Elturel Exile from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate is yet another example of a nasty card on a budget. Thanks to MTG content creator The Tea Beard MTG, many new MTG players are suddenly finding a new Grixis Commander to take over the game with on a budget.
MTG Zevlor, Elturel Exile
After receiving a day-zero errata, MTG Zevlor, Elturel Exile basically allows players to turn a targeted spell into one that affects all players. Whether you’re targeting a creature or the player itself, Zevlor makes sure that all of your opponents are treated equally. This opens up the potential to play a lot of cards that would otherwise be relatively weak in Commander.
Discard effects like Duress or Thoughtseize are great examples of this. Generally, playing these cards in multiplayer formats is a bad move since only two players are going down on cards. With Zevlor, you get the option of taking everyone’s best card, but you still have the option of just targeting one blue player to try and snag a counterspell for your bigger payoff.
While discard spells can clear the way for your bigger cards, Zevlor’s best payoffs can close the game out immediately. Copying a Bribery or an Acquire basically lets you steal each of your opponent’s best cards, easily ending the game on the spot if it resolves. River’s Rebuke and Cruel Ultimatum offer blowouts on a similar level when copied with MTG Zevlor. That said, while this is all very powerful, it’s also not the most enjoyable play pattern for your opponents.
If this feels like too much, not all of your spells need to be massive haymakers to create value with Zevlor. Utilizing smaller spells like Peek and Gitaxian Probe, gives your game plan lots of flexibility. You can refill on cards if needed, or dig for missing cards in the early game.
Of course, Zevlor offers a similar scaling idea for single-target removal spells, removing the inherent downside of playing these necessary cards. Removing each of your opponent’s best creatures with a two-mana Deadly Rollick seems particularly difficult to turn down.
Amplifying MTG Zevlor
While Zevlor is already powerful enough on its own when combined with thematic spells, he’s hardly the only way to copy single-target spells. Combine your Commander with cards like Spinerock Tyrant and Exterminator Magmarch, and you’ll get multiple copies of each of your spells. If one particular opponent is proving to be an issue, Twinning Staff can even point an extra copy at the same player, but you will need Zevlor online to get any value out of the artifact.
Once you’ve set up additional copy effects, Magecraft cards become extremely powerful alongside MTG Zevlor. Archmage Emeritus can easily refill your hand after one Zevlor trigger, while Storm-Kiln Artist can generate tons of Treasures to help offset Zevlor’s activation cost.
If you need more ways to spend your Treasures and cast even more spells, Spellslinger staples Lier, Disciple of the Drowned and Kess, Dissident Mage can bring back all of your spells. In longer games, cards like Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch can also generate a lot of long term value with Zevlor.
Terrorize Your Opponents on a Budget
While Zevlor, Elturel Exile is quite powerful when used right, it’s not the most popular Commander in the world. This is, in part, due to the unfriendly nature of the Commander’s gameplay patterns, but a lot of cards in Battle For Baldur’s Gate were unsurprisingly overlooked. With so many different Commanders to try, a few were bound to be left behind in the dust.
Thanks in part to its low play rate, Zevlor, Elturel Exile is only worth about $0.15 despite never being reprinted after its first appearance. Premium copies of this card aren’t worth much either, with $1 being the most you could possibly spend Zevlor’s prerelease promo.
While all of this might not be good news for your Commander pod, it is a great thing for you. For a fraction of the price, Zevlor should be able to give most Bracket 3 decks a run for their money.
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