Is Roil Elemental good in Commander?

Roil Elemental in Commander — Combos, Decks & Price

Roil Elemental steals a creature every time a land enters the battlefield under your control — no attack, no tap, no additional cost. At six mana it's a real investment, but in a landfall deck like Omnath, Locus of the Roil, where lands enter multiple times per turn, it warps the board on resolution.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Omnath, Locus of the Roil

43.5% of decks · synergy 0.42

Omnath, Locus of the Roil triggers landfall constantly, and Roil Elemental converts every one of those triggers into a stolen creature — the two cards form a self-sustaining theft engine that empties opponent boards in a single turn cycle.

02

Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait

29.2% of decks · synergy 0.26

Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait plays extra lands and draws cards off each one, so Roil Elemental slots into a shell already built to trigger landfall multiple times per turn and compound advantage.

03

Yarok, the Desecrated

21.7% of decks · synergy 0.20

Yarok, the Desecrated doubles every enters-the-battlefield trigger, which means Roil Elemental steals two creatures per land drop instead of one — a single fetch land becomes a two-for-one swing in your favor.

04

Omnath, Locus of Creation

27.5% of decks · synergy 0.19

Omnath, Locus of Creation incentivizes hitting four or more land drops per turn for life gain and damage; Roil Elemental rides that same density to strip the table of its best threats.

05

Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

22.6% of decks · synergy 0.19

Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath naturally accelerates land drops through its triggered ability, giving Roil Elemental a steady stream of theft triggers even without dedicated landfall support.

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 Roil Elemental lives — the format's longer game and landfall-centric commanders give it the setup time it needs to dominate. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but completely unplayed; six mana for a conditional effect that requires additional land drops is nowhere near those formats' power bands. Modern has enough landfall pieces to theoretically support it, but the format's speed means it arrives too late to matter against the field. Roil Elemental is a Commander card through and through, and it should be evaluated exclusively in that context.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Roil Elemental's closest budget analogue is Wandering Mind or, more commonly, Frenzied Fugue — both provide recurring control of an opponent's permanent for under $1, though neither ties directly to landfall triggers. If you want the landfall-theft angle specifically at a lower price point, Confiscation Coup ($0.25) is a one-shot steal rather than a repeatable engine, which is a meaningful step down but still enables the same tempo play on a single key threat.

Price Context

Current price

$23.79 premium tier

At $23.79, Roil Elemental sits in the premium tier — a real budget line for a single non-commander creature slot. It holds that price because it's a unique repeatable theft effect tied to one of Commander's most popular mechanics, with no direct functional reprint at a lower price point.