Avenger of Zendikar
Creature — Elemental
When this creature enters, create a 0/1 green Plant creature token for each land you control.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, you may put a +1/+1 counter on each Plant creature you control.
- CMC
- 7
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Lorwyn Eclipsed Commander
- Price
- $0.40
- EDHREC rank
- #268
Avenger of Zendikar hits the board and immediately floods it with Plant tokens equal to your land count — in a typical Commander game that's six to ten bodies before you've attacked once. The seven-mana cost is real, but the payoff is a combat-ready army that grows every time a land enters after it; Esix, Fractal Bloom and Yuma, Proud Protector both exploit this so efficiently that over 80% of those decks run it.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Yuma, Proud Protector
Yuma, Proud Protector mills lands into the graveyard as a resource, which means Avenger of Zendikar enters a battlefield already stacked with land-drop triggers waiting to pump the Plant tokens further.
Kirri, Talented Sprout
Kirri, Talented Sprout rewards playing multiple land types each turn, so the land-flood engine that powers Avenger of Zendikar's token count also fuels Kirri's own triggers in the same sequence.
Phylath, World Sculptor
Phylath, World Sculptor puts +1/+1 counters on basic-land-typed creatures, which turns every Plant token Avenger of Zendikar makes into a counter magnet the moment the next land drops.
Esix, Fractal Bloom
The first token Avenger of Zendikar creates triggers Esix, Fractal Bloom's replacement effect, turning every subsequent Plant into a copy of whatever threat you name — one seven-mana spell becomes a board of legends or bombs.
Ashling, the Limitless
Ashling, the Limitless copies spells and permanents when you meet her counter conditions, and Avenger of Zendikar's enters-the-battlefield trigger on a copy doubles the token flood without spending another seven mana.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Avenger of Zendikar belongs — multiplayer games go long enough to cast it, land counts are high enough to generate double-digit tokens, and the token swarm scales into a credible threat against multiple opponents. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but entirely unplayed; seven mana is a forfeit in those formats, and the payoff doesn't come close to justifying the slot. Oathbreaker shares Commander's longer game arc, and Avenger of Zendikar can function there in green landfall builds, though the smaller starting life totals tighten the window.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Horde of NotionsAvenger of ZendikarPhyrexian Altar
Infinite recursion of Elemental cards in your graveyard; Cast a subset of spells in your graveyard; Infinite colored mana; Infinite creature tokens; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite storm count
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Nim DeathmantleAshnod's AltarAvenger of Zendikar
Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Emiel the BlessedAvenger of ZendikarAshnod's Altar
Infinite blinking of most creatures; Infinite colorless mana; Infinite creature tokens; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite blinking
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.40 bulk tier
At $0.40, Avenger of Zendikar is bulk by price but not by impact — heavy reprint history has pushed it to the floor despite showing up in over 80% of its best-fit commanders' decklists. It's a safe pickup at this price; the demand is real and the supply is just keeping pace with it.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.