Clone effects have become some of the most powerful and consistent cards in MTG Commander. Thanks to the format’s singleton rule, any card that can copy the best effects in your deck can put your efficiency through the roof. This has made Magic’s best clones both extremely valuable and popular.
That said, while there are a fair few cards that can copy something in play, copying a card in your graveyard is an entirely different story. Thanks to the ability to dump massive spells into the graveyard on the cheap, this can become a powerful tool to cheat endgame cards into play. Volrath’s Shapeshifter does exactly that, while enabling some scary infinite combos thanks to his ability to change identities on the fly.
MTG Volrath’s Shapeshifter
Volrath’s Shapeshifter offers a bizarre creature whose exact ability is impossible to replicate. Copying the top card of your graveyard, while finicky, can create some insane value when set up properly. The uniqueness of this card allows it to play a powerful role across multiple Commander archetypes.
Reanimator is certainly the best home for Volrath’s Shapeshifter, since the creature essentially doubles as a discard outlet and a reanimation spell. Permanent-based tutors like Survival of the Fittest and Formidable Speaker can discard big creatures while finding others, allowing Volrath’s Shapeshifter to copy anything you want. Graveyard tutors like Entomb can also do this, but you’ll need an effect like Ghost Vacuum to move the tutor out of the way. You could even dump Phage, the Untouchable, for Volrath’s Shapeshifter to copy, giving you the capability of directly killing someone while getting around Phage’s nasty entry trigger.
With sacrificial or Legend Rule effects, you can also set up Volrath’s Shapeshifter to double up on nasty entry effects. Prime Speaker Vannifar, for example, can use the Shapeshifter to follow up another untap ability in a combo chain. Similarly, Commanders like Aang, at the Crossroads, and The Ever-Changing ‘Dane, will commonly have powerful entry effects in the graveyard, allowing Volrath’s Shapeshifter to make a big impact.
Of course, Volrath’s Shapeshifter can also be quite powerful in just discard decks. Commanders like Kefka, Court Mage, Norman Osborn, and Rielle, the Everwise can constantly discard powerful creatures for Volrath’s Shapeshifter to copy. In the case of Rielle, you can even use the Shapeshifter’s activated ability as a rummaging tool.
Transforming Into Multiple Different Creatures
Borrowing from Volrath’s Shapeshifter’s Premodern appearance, you can access a bunch of infinite combos thanks to Volrath’s Shapeshifter’s ability to become multiple different creatures in the same turn. So long as you don’t have any basic lands in your deck, Hermit Druid can mill your entire deck in one instance. While it’s a niche rule, you’re actually allowed to organize milled cards in your graveyard in any order, so long as they’re all milled at the same time.
Thanks to this, you can set up multi-creature combos with Volrath’s Shapeshifter. Putting something like Psychatog on top of your graveyard unlocks its activated abilities, allowing Volrath’s Shapeshifter to load up on +1/+1 counters. Once you have enough, you can exile Psychatog, revealing a creature that can grant Volrath’s Shapeshifter Haste. It’s easy to use a card like Akroma, Angel of Wrath to kill one opponent, but if you grant Haste via an activated creature ability from a card like Crimson Mage with an extra Psychatog trigger on the stack, you can swap creatures twice, switching to Amarant Coral or Walking Ballista to take out multiple opponents.
You can also use Buried Alive and a card with a similar ability to Keen-Eyed Curator to set up a death combo with Volrath’s Shapeshifter. Find Phyrexian Devourer and Walking Ballista with Buried Alive, organizing your graveyard so that Phyrexian Devourer is on top. Once you move Buried Alive out of the way with Keen-Eyed Curator’s ability, start activating Phyrexian Devourer’s ability until you have enough +1/+1 counters to kill the table. Once you’re all loaded up, use Keen-Eyed Curator’s activated ability to take Devourer out of your graveyard, revealing Walking Ballista on top and pinging your opponents to death.
While less flashy, you can set up some infinite combos using Protean Hulk and Volrath’s Shapeshifter, thanks to the Shapeshifter being able to copy a freshly killed Hulk. Tutoring out Carrion Feeder, Gravecrawler, and Volrath’s Shapeshifter with a Protean Hulk trigger, for example, sets up an easy infinite. Just sacrifice Shapeshifter and find Pitiless Plunderer and Blood Artist, and you’ll be able to recast Gravecrawler infinitely, draining the table.
Unplayed, But Surprisingly Expensive
In the right archetypes, setting up Volrath’s Shapeshifter for success is surprisingly easy. With that in mind, players may be surprised to hear that this card sees virtually no Commander play at all. According to EDHREC, only 804 Commander decks use the card out of a potential four million, giving you an opportunity to shock your table.
Sadly, while Volrath’s Shapeshifter sees little play, the card is surprisingly expensive. The $17 card is extremely popular in Premodern, where players take advantage of Hermit Druid combos to win the game instantly. Add on its Reserved List status, and there’s no possibility of a reprint to make Volrath’s Shapeshifter more affordable. Sadly, before Premodern took off, this card was far more affordable, available for a mere $3.
While the Shapeshifter is no longer a budget pick, it can still pull off some absolutely incredible combos in Commander. In the right graveyard-centric deck, Volrath’s Shapeshifter can seriously upgrade your combo potential.
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