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Zaffai, Thunder Conductor

Legendary Creature — Human Shaman

Magecraft — Whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell, scry 1. If that spell's mana value is 5 or greater, create a 4/4 blue and red Elemental creature token. If that spell's mana value is 10 or greater, Zaffai deals 10 damage to an opponent chosen at random.

CMC
4
Mana cost
{2}{U}{R}
Color identity
RU
Rarity
mythic
Set
Commander 2021
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#11023
Buy on TCGplayer
Zaffai, Thunder Conductor card art
Zaffai, Thunder Conductor turns every big spell into a free trigger — scry 2 for anything five or more mana, create a 4/4 for anything ten or more — which means the payoff scales aggressively with the spells you were already casting. The cost is that the engine is fragile: Zaffai dies to removal like any creature, and the Chain of Smog combo line makes it a known threat that draws instant-speed answers the moment it resolves. Hinata, Dawn-Crowned builds can slot Zaffai in as a redundant value engine, but as a commander it demands protection spells and a curve built around double-digit mana costs to fully close games.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Hinata, Dawn-Crowned

Hinata, Dawn-Crowned

40.3% of decks · synergy 0.39

Hinata, Dawn-Crowned reduces the cost of spells that target multiple things, which means the expensive instants and sorceries that trigger Zaffai, Thunder Conductor become even cheaper to cast — you're hitting the ten-mana threshold on spells that cost far less out of pocket, generating 4/4 tokens while Hinata's discount effectively pays for itself.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Zaffai, Thunder Conductor is a Commander card through and through — the trigger economy only compounds over a long game with access to a 100-card library full of high-cost spells, and the commander zone means Zaffai is always available as a consistent engine. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but sees no competitive play; the three-mana 2/2 body does nothing in formats where the game ends on turn one or two. Oathbreaker is the one other format where Zaffai could theoretically function, but the 20-life starting total and signature spell restriction compress the game too much for the value triggers to matter.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

3 decks
Zaffai, Thunder ConductorDual CastingIntruder Alarm

Zaffai, Thunder ConductorDual CastingIntruder Alarm

Infinite copies of instant or sorcery spells you cast; Infinite creature tokens; Infinite ETB; Infinite magecraft triggers; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinite scry 1; Infinite untap of creatures; Infinite untap of creatures you control

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Current pricing data for Zaffai, Thunder Conductor isn't available in this context, so check Scryfall or your preferred retailer for the latest number. Given its niche as a combo-centric Izzet commander with a known Chain of Smog line, it typically occupies the budget-to-mid range — worth picking up if you're building the deck, but not a card with broad cross-format demand driving the price up.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.