Of all the Magic: The Gathering villains we’ve seen over the years, Volrath is undoubtedly one of the most iconic. Serving as one of Yawgmoth’s most trusted lieutenants during the Weatherlight saga, Volrath was also notable for introducing Slivers to Dominaria. While he hasn’t appeared on any cards for a while, this MTG villain’s legacy lives on in Volrath, the Shapestealer.
Volrath, The Shapestealer MTG
Volrath offers one of the most flexible creature copying effects in Commander, turning into any counter-bearing creature in play for just one mana. Even when played fair, this gives you a ton of options, whether it’s temporarily borrowing stax effects like Grand Abolisher, or strong activated abilities like that on Topiary Lecturer. The ability to switch between forms at instant speed lets you react to the situation on board, but Volrath can also retain each form for a full turn cycle if you’d prefer.
A notable wrinkle of Volrath is that it gains a fresh instance of an ability when it copies a creature. This lets it get around once per turn restrictions on cards like Beledros Witherbloom and Gisa and Geralf by simply copying these creatures multiple times. For instant speed effects, you can do this super-efficiently by copying Volrath’s ability with Illusionist’s Bracers or Locus of Enlightenment. Simply activate the fresh ability before Volrath copies it again, and you can get two uses for just one mana.
Of course, in order to copy anything with Volrath, you’ll need some ways to freely distribute counters. Cards that place +1/+1 counters, like Generous Patron and Forgotten Ancient, are ideal for filling this role for your own creatures. To set up opposing creatures to be copied, -1/-1 counter placers, such as Persistent Constrictor and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, are better bets. Volrath notably works with any counters, so more obscure options, like the prey counters placed by Tetzimoc, Primal Death, will work here too.
Copy Counter Combos
Naturally, Volrath, the Shapestealer opens up a lot of MTG combos with that open-ended copying ability. With Grim Poppet and Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons, for example, it can make you infinite 1/1 tokens. Simply copy Poppet with Volrath, then remove a counter from Poppet to put one on Volrath. This will cause Hapatra to create a 1/1 Snake token, and you can shift the counter back and forth infinite times for an infinite board of them. You can do this at instant speed right before your turn to go for the combat win, or just add in Altar of the Brood to mill everyone out.
Speaking of milling the table out, Volrath also lets you do so with Knacksaw Clique and Kami of Whispered Hopes. Have Volrath copy Kami, and it can tap for a whopping seven mana, then have it copy Clique, and it can untap for two, exiling the top card of an opponent’s deck. Flip back and forth between the two creatures to exile each opponent’s deck, and also cast everything they have with your infinite colored mana.
An Oldie But A Goodie
Volrath, the Shapestealer is the kind of MTG Commander that can easily become an obsession. There are tons of ways to build around its ability, whether you’re playing a flexible value plan or a combo game. The real beauty of this legend lies in how dynamic it is, however, unlocking new avenues and opportunities depending on the decks you come up against. Clone and copy effects are nothing new for Magic, of course, but we rarely see them this efficient or flexible.
Despite its many virtues, Volrath, the Shapestealer isn’t actually very popular in Commander. According to EDHREC, just 3,719 players run this classic villain in the command zone, and only 2,480 in the 99. This is doubly surprising since Volrath was actually a secondary face Commander in Commander 2019, and precon legends tend to do better than their main set peers.
Whatever the reason for this low play rate, one upside is that Volrath is available at a bargain price right now. The card’s one and only printing, the foil from Commander 2019, can be had near-mint for just $0.64 on TCGplayer right now. That’s low for any legend, but especially a powerful single-printing mythic like this one. If you’re looking to shake up your next Commander game and try out a complex new brew, this classic villain is a steal at its current price.
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