Volrath was a legendary villain in the early days of Magic. He was a shapeshifter who used his powers to battle Gerrard in the Weatherlight saga. Now, he’s back in Magic: The Gathering Commander 2019 spoilers as a brand new card: Volrath, the Shapestealer!
Breakdown
For 5 mana in the Sultai colors, Volrath, the Shapestealer is a legendary shapeshifter. Every combat on your turn, he lets you put a -1/-1 counter on any creature. Then you can pay 1 at any time to make him become a 7/5 copy of the creature until your next turn. However, as a bonus, he still will keep the ability to shapeshift.
His ability seems incredibly fun to play with. You can use creatures like Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons to spread around -1/-1 counters faster so you have more creatures to target. The counters make enemy creatures weaker and double as removal. Not only that, but you get to copy the coolest creature on the battlefield. You can make him an indestructible Eldrazi, a token generator, whatever you want! Keep in mind he keeps his power and toughness, so you can go the Voltron route. Three hits with him becoming an evasive creature will kill. A very mean combo would be to make him a flying creature, and then, after your opponent can’t block, turn him into a creature with infect or double strike. The possibilities are limitless.
Overall, I think Volrath, the Shapestealer is an excellent commander to put in the set. He’s extremely flexible and leads to a lot of creativity in deck building. Even better, he’ll scale well to whatever creatures your opponents are playing. No matter what table you’ll bring him to, Volrath is likely to be competitive enough to hang in there with the best without being completely overwhelming.
What do you think of Volrath, the Shapestealer? Do you plan on building a deck around him? Is there a sweet combo with him you figured out? Let us know down in the comments below, and then stay tuned for more Magic: The Gathering Commander 2019 spoilers!
