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Zhur-Taa Ancient

Creature — Beast

Whenever a player taps a land for mana, that player adds one mana of any type that land produced.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{R}{G}
Color identity
GR
Rarity
rare
Set
Dragon's Maze
Price
$0.31
EDHREC rank
#8115
Buy on TCGplayer
Zhur-Taa Ancient card art
Zhur-Taa Ancient doubles every player's mana — which is either a catastrophic political liability or the exact engine you want, depending on whether you're punishing opponents for floating mana they can't spend safely. In a dedicated mana-burn shell like Yurlok of Scorch Thrash, it's a five-mana payoff that accelerates toward a lethal end state; without that framing, Magus of the Candelabra and friends can abuse the surplus while opponents drown in it.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Yurlok of Scorch Thrash

Yurlok of Scorch Thrash

68.9% of decks · synergy 0.66

Yurlok of Scorch Thrash turns unspent mana into damage, so Zhur-Taa Ancient's symmetrical doubling becomes asymmetrical punishment — you're engineering a situation where opponents flood with mana they can't convert to value fast enough, and Yurlok closes the gap.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Zhur-Taa Ancient is a Commander card in practice — the symmetrical doubling effect is too slow and too dangerous for Legacy or Vintage, where opponents exploit the bonus faster than you can capitalize on it. In Modern and Pioneer it's theoretically legal but sees no meaningful play; the five-mana investment for a fragile creature that helps everyone is simply too loose in those formats. Commander is where the card lives, specifically in Gruul mana-punishment builds where controlling how opponents spend that doubled mana is built into the deck's strategy. Outside of dedicated shells, even in Commander, it's a risky include that hands capable pilots free resources.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

3,056 decks
Magus of the CandelabraStaff of DominationZhur-Taa Ancient

Magus of the CandelabraStaff of DominationZhur-Taa Ancient

Infinite card draw; Infinite draw triggers; Infinite lifegain; Infinite lifegain triggers; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinite mana lands you control can produce; Infinite untap of creatures you control; Infinite untap of lands you control

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

$0.31 bulk tier

At $0.31, Zhur-Taa Ancient is deep bulk — an easy pickup that costs less than a draft pick. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to spike outside a reprint or a sudden surge in Yurlok of Scorch Thrash builds, so there's no urgency beyond grabbing one when you need it.

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Sources

Mentioned

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