Is Zendikar's Roil good in Commander?

Zendikar's Roil

Enchantment

Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, create a 2/2 green Elemental creature token.

CMC: 5
Mana cost
Color identity: G
Rarity: uncommon
Set: Magic Origins
Price: $1.22
EDHREC rank: #1887

Zendikar's Roil turns every land drop into a 2/2 body, and in a format where landing extra lands is a strategy rather than an accident, that adds up fast. Five mana is the real cost — it doesn't do anything the turn it enters — but Kodama of the East Tree and Omnath, Locus of the Roil both generate enough landfall triggers to make that investment pay off within a single rotation.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

Omnath, Locus of the Roil

62.5% of decks · synergy 0.61

Omnath, Locus of the Roil already rewards every land entering the battlefield, and Zendikar's Roil stacks a 2/2 Elemental on top of each trigger — every land drop pings, draws, and creates a body simultaneously.

Omnath, Locus of Rage

52.8% of decks · synergy 0.50

Omnath, Locus of Rage wants a board full of Elementals to threaten 3-damage death pings, and Zendikar's Roil mass-produces exactly that fuel with zero additional setup.

Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor

38.3% of decks · synergy 0.37

Obuun, Mul Daya Ancestor incentivizes hitting multiple land drops per turn through its own ability, and Zendikar's Roil converts each of those extra drops into a creature that contributes to the go-wide plan.

Zimone and Dina

38.3% of decks · synergy 0.35

Zimone and Dina mills and drains whenever you draw extra cards, and the deck's land-chaining engine naturally triggers Zendikar's Roil repeatedly, generating enough bodies to threaten a board state while Dina bleeds the table.

Sméagol, Helpful Guide

34.4% of decks · synergy 0.33

Sméagol, Helpful Guide flips the top card of libraries into lands for opponents, but the deck's own land-to-hand pipeline still fires Zendikar's Roil reliably enough to keep a steady stream of 2/2s entering each turn cycle.

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

Zendikar's Roil is legal across Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it only sees real play in Commander. Five mana for a do-nothing enchantment is disqualifying in Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer, where games are decided before it could ever generate meaningful value. Commander is the one format that supplies both the landfall infrastructure to abuse it and the longer game where incremental token production compounds into a board state — pair it with any commander that drops extra lands and the card earns its slot.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

6,677 decks