Archon of Emeria
Creature — Archon
Flying
Each player can't cast more than one spell each turn.
Nonbasic lands your opponents control enter tapped.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Zendikar Rising Promos
- Price
- $1.89
- EDHREC rank
- #2041
Archon of Emeria locks every player to one spell per turn and forces all nonbasic lands to enter tapped — on a 2/3 flier for three mana, that's a stax piece that pulls serious weight the moment it resolves. The cost is a body that dies to most removal, but the enters-tapped clause alone blanks fetch-heavy mana bases hard enough to justify the slot; pair it with Knowledge Pool and the one-spell restriction becomes a near-total lock.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Winota, Joiner of Forces
Winota, Joiner of Forces floods the board with non-Human tokens to trigger her ability, and Archon of Emeria ensures opponents can't chain multiple answers or interaction spells in a single turn to stop the avalanche.
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade already punishes noncreature spells and free mana, and Archon of Emeria stacks on top to create a layered permission prison that makes even a single relevant spell per turn feel like a luxury opponents can barely afford.
Tayam, Luminous Enigma
Tayam, Luminous Enigma grinds through a creature-dense, low-curve shell, and Archon of Emeria's three-mana cost puts it squarely in Tayam's recursion range while the one-spell-per-turn rule protects the engine from getting blown out by a flurry of interaction.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is the canonical tax commander, and Archon of Emeria converts that incremental cost pressure into a hard ceiling — opponents paying more per spell while being capped at one per turn runs out of gas fast.
Queen Kayla bin-Kroog
Queen Kayla bin-Kroog self-imposes a low-cost creature strategy that naturally dodges Archon of Emeria's own restriction, making the Archon a one-sided stax piece that punishes spell-heavy opponents while the artifact and creature synergies keep the engine humming.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Archon of Emeria is a staple stax piece in white-based control and prison shells — the one-spell-per-turn rule hits four opponents simultaneously, multiplying its effect in ways that don't translate to any one-on-one format. In Modern and Pioneer, it sees niche play in Death and Taxes and other creature-based disruption strategies, where its enters-tapped clause punishes shock- and fetch-heavy mana bases; it's not a format pillar in either, but it's a legitimate sideboard and main-deck consideration when tempo matters. Legacy and Vintage have more powerful redundancy available, so Archon of Emeria tends to lose out to lower-to-the-ground hatebears, though it's still legal and occasionally appears in white stax piles that want the specific nonbasic-land punishment.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Archon of EmeriaKnowledge Pool
Exile all spells players cast from their hand; Players can only cast one spell per turn; Lock
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Possibility StormArchon of Emeria
Players can't cast spells from their hand; Lock
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Archon of EmeriaEye of the Storm
Exile all instants and sorceries any player casts; Players can only cast one spell per turn; Lock
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$1.89 cheap tier
At $1.89, Archon of Emeria is cheap for the power it represents — a three-mana stax piece with this much board impact typically costs more when it sees sustained competitive play. That price is unlikely to erode further given its steady inclusion in Commander and occasional Modern appearances, making it an easy pickup at this tier.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.