Zethi, Arcane Blademaster
Legendary Creature — Human Soldier
Multikicker 
When Zethi, Arcane Blademaster enters, exile up to X target instant cards from your graveyard, where X is the number of times Zethi was kicked. Put a kick counter on each of them.
Whenever Zethi attacks, copy each exiled card you own with a kick counter on it. You may cast the copies.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- UW
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Secret Lair Drop
- Price
- $17.66
- EDHREC rank
- #10967
Zethi, Arcane Blademaster turns instants exiled under it into a repeatable engine — every combat, you cast each of them for free, which means a single copy of Teferi's Protection becomes a permanent ward against every board wipe your opponents can muster. The four-mana body is the cost, and it's a fair one for what is effectively a recursive instant-speed toolbox stapled to an attacker.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Zethi, Arcane Blademaster is a Commander card through and through — the design assumes a long game where you have time to load instants under it and recur them over multiple turns, which is exactly what the 40-life multiplayer format provides. In Legacy and Vintage, where it's technically legal, it's far too slow and parasitic: four mana for a creature that does nothing the turn it enters doesn't compete with those formats' threat density. Oathbreaker is the one other format worth mentioning, where it could function as a signature-spell engine if the gameplan is built around it, though the 20-life clock compresses the window significantly.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Zethi, Arcane BlademasterTeferi's Protection
Permanents you control phase out during your opponents' turns; Your life total can't change during your opponents' turns; Lock
View combo details →
Zethi, Arcane BlademasterNexus of FateMystical Tutor
Infinite turns; Skip your draw steps; Lock
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Zethi, Arcane BlademasterLithoform EngineDramatic Reversal
Infinite casts of all cards exiled with kick counters on them; Infinite colored mana; Infinite colorless mana; Infinite magecraft triggers; Infinite mana nonland permanents you control can produce; Infinite storm count; Infinite untap of nonland permanents you control
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Zethi, Arcane BlademasterBeacon of TomorrowsMystical Tutor
Infinite turns; Skip your draw steps; Lock
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Zethi, Arcane BlademasterSavage Beating
Infinite magecraft triggers; Infinite combat phases; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinite storm count; Infinite untap of creatures you control
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
No single card replicates what Zethi, Arcane Blademaster does — recurring multiple instants for free every combat is a unique effect — but Isochron Scepter covers the repeatable-instant angle for under a dollar, at the cost of being limited to one imprinted spell and requiring mana each activation. Swiftfoot Boots and similar protection pieces can patch the defensive role that recurring Teferi's Protection provides, though obviously without the free-cast upside.
Price Context
Current price
$17.66 mid tier
At $17.66, Zethi, Arcane Blademaster sits in the mid tier — expensive enough to feel like a deliberate inclusion, but not so costly it breaks a budget build. It's a unique effect with no direct reprint pressure visible, so the price is unlikely to crater, but it's also niche enough that it won't spike without a breakout deck pushing demand.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.