Etali wants a deck that piles armor and magic onto one creature and attacks with it. It also suits a deck that wins with poison counters instead of damage.
Mana cost
Red, Green ()
Power / toughness7 / 7
RarityRare
Trample
When Etali enters, each player exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card. You may cast any number of spells from among the nonland cards exiled this way without paying their mana costs.
: Transform Etali. Activate only as a sorcery.
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Trample, indestructible
Whenever Etali deals combat damage to a player, they get that many poison counters. (A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game.)
Picked for what they do in Etali's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Etali's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Open the full glossary
explain how Etali works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary
Wizards of the Coast14 Apr 2023
Any cards not cast, including land cards, remain in exile. They can’t be cast on later turns.
Wizards of the Coast14 Apr 2023
If an exiled card has {X} in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
Wizards of the Coast14 Apr 2023
If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” you can’t pay any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, those must be paid to cast the card.
Wizards of the Coast14 Apr 2023
If you cast any of the exiled cards, you do so as part of the resolution of the triggered ability. You can’t wait to cast them later in the turn. Timing restrictions based on a card’s type are ignored.
Wizards of the Coast14 Apr 2023
If you cast more than one of the exiled cards, you choose the order in which to cast them. A spell you cast this way can be the target of a later spell you cast this way. However, permanent spells cast this way won’t resolve until you’re done casting spells, so the permanents they become can’t be the target of spells cast this way. For example, if you exile Twincast and Lightning Strike, you can cast Lightning Strike and then cast Twincast targeting it; but if you exile a creature card and an Aura card, you can’t cast that Aura targeting that creature.
Wizards of the Coast14 Apr 2023
In a multiplayer game, if a player leaves the game, all cards that player owns leave as well. If you leave the game, any spells or permanents you control from Etali’s ability are exiled.
Wizards of the Coast14 Apr 2023
Losing the game because a player (preferably an opponent) has ten or more poison counters is a rule of the game. Etali, Primal Sickness doesn’t have to still be on the battlefield when someone (preferably an opponent) gets their tenth poison counter.
Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryRGPlayers write colors as letters: R for red, G for green.VoltronVoltron decks load one creature, usually the commander, with Equipment and Auras until it can win by attacking on its own. In Commander, a player dealt 21 or more combat damage by the same commander over the game loses, so one huge commander can knock a player out.Open the Voltron pageVoltron CommanderA legendary creature that can carry the whole game plan by itself. It protects itself, grows with what is attached to it, or rewards attacking alone. The deck piles Auras and Equipment onto it and wins with commander damage, since 21 or more combat damage from one commander knocks a player out. Named for the toy robot built from smaller pieces. Zurgo Helmsmasher, Uril, the Miststalker, Sigarda, Host of HeronsOpen the Voltron Commander pageFree CastCan be cast without paying its mana cost when a condition is met, often "if you control your commander". Because it costs nothing, you can still answer something after your mana is already spent. Fierce Guardianship, Deflecting SwatOpen the Free Cast pageSaboteurTriggers when a creature deals combat damage to a player, so the reward comes from connecting rather than from the damage itself. Evasion makes these far more reliable. Ragavan, Nimble PilfererOpen the Saboteur pageETB ValueDoes something useful the moment it arrives: an enter the battlefield ability, which players shorten to ETB. You keep that effect even if the card is removed straight afterwards, which is why these pair so well with flicker cards that make them enter again. Solemn Simulacrum, The One RingOpen the ETB Value pageProtectionA creature with protection from something, like a color, is safe from anything with that quality. It cannot be damaged, enchanted or equipped, blocked, or targeted by it, and players remember the four with the word DEBT. It does not stop effects that neither target nor damage, like a board wipe that destroys every creature. ProgenitusOpen the Protection pageInfect/ToxicInfect and toxic decks win with poison counters instead of damage: a player with ten or more poison counters loses the game. Creatures with infect give players poison counters instead of normal damage, and creatures with toxic give poison counters on top of their combat damage.Open the Infect/Toxic pagePoisonGives out poison counters, or gets stronger when opponents have them. A player who has ten or more poison counters loses the game. Cards with the keyword infect or toxic hand out poison counters when they deal damage to a player.Open the Poison pageMillMill decks win by emptying opponents' libraries, the decks they draw from: a player who has to draw from an empty library loses the game. Milling means putting cards from the top of a library straight into the graveyard.Open the Mill pageMillPuts cards from the top of a player's library, the deck they draw from, straight into their graveyard. Aimed at opponents it can win the game, because a player who has to draw from an empty library loses.Open the Mill pageMana SinkGives you somewhere useful to spend spare mana, usually through an ability you can activate again and again. Rogue's Passage, Mind StoneOpen the Mana Sink pageLibrary ManipulationCards that let you look at, rearrange or play from the top of your deck, so you control what you draw next.Open the Library Manipulation page
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: Transform Etali. Activate only as a sorcery.
Open the full glossary
