Zhang He, Wei General

Legendary Creature — Human Soldier

Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
Whenever Zhang He attacks, each other creature you control gets +1/+0 until end of turn.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{B}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
rare
Set
Portal Three Kingdoms
Price
$92.89
EDHREC rank
#26012
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Zhang He, Wei General card art
Zhang He, Wei General punishes every attacking creature your opponents control — shrinking their entire board on the swing — while growing your own blockers to match. At five mana for a 3/3, the rate is mediocre; you're paying for the symmetry-breaking effect, not the body.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander
legacy
modern
pioneer
standard
vintage
pauper
oathbreaker

Zhang He, Wei General is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but in practice this is a Commander card. Legacy and Vintage have no interest in a five-mana 3/3 whose effect is too slow and too situational to matter in those formats. In Commander, the effect scales with the number of creatures swinging at any given player — a four-player game turns Zhang He into a persistent tax on aggression and a soft deterrent that shapes how opponents sequence their attacks. Oathbreaker is theoretically viable but the smaller player count blunts the payoff.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Zhang He, Wei General's closest functional analog is Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker, which punishes attacking in a different way — sacrifice rather than -1/-1 counters — but at five mana with a similar deterrent profile and a fraction of the price. Gahiji, Honored One redirects aggression rather than punishing it, but slots into the same political role at roughly the same cost without the premium price tag.

Price Context

Current price

$92.89 premium tier

At $92.89, Zhang He, Wei General sits firmly in the premium tier, driven almost entirely by its Portal Three Kingdoms scarcity rather than gameplay demand. That price reflects collectibility more than power level, so treat it as a collector purchase — functionally similar effects exist for under $5.

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Mentioned

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