- Commander Nexus
- Commanders
- Lazav, Familiar Stranger
Command zone
Lazav, Familiar Stranger
Legendary Creature — Shapeshifter
Lazav, Familiar Stranger wants a deck that copies the best creature on the table. It also suits a deck that keeps making its creatures bigger turn after turn.
- Mana cost
- Blue, Black ()
- Power / toughness1 / 4
- RarityUncommon
Whenever you commit a crime, put a +1/+1 counter on Lazav. Then you may exile a card from a graveyard. If a creature card was exiled this way, you may have Lazav become a copy of that card until end of turn. This ability triggers only once each turn. (Targeting opponents, anything they control, and/or cards in their graveyards is a crime.)
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- Archetypes
- Themes
Cards That Fit Lazav, Familiar Stranger
Picked for what they do in Lazav's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Lazav'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
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Rulings for Lazav, Familiar Stranger
explain how Lazav 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
A player can commit only one crime per spell or ability they control. Targeting multiple opponents, permanents, spells, abilities, and/or cards with the same spell or ability doesn't constitute committing multiple crimes.
A player commits a crime as they cast a spell, activate an ability, or put a triggered ability on the stack that targets at least one opponent, at least one permanent, spell, or ability an opponent controls, and/or at least one card in an opponent's graveyard.
Any effects that applied to Lazav before it becomes a copy of another card will continue to apply once it becomes a copy. The same is true of any counters that are on Lazav.
Changing the target or targets of a spell or ability won't affect whether or not the controller of that spell or ability has committed a crime. Only the initial targets chosen for that spell or ability are used to determine whether or not its controller committed a crime.
For example, an ability that triggers when you cast a spell that targets an opponent will trigger at the same time as an ability that triggers whenever you commit a crime. Those abilities can be put on the stack in either order (if you control them both), and they'll both resolve before the spell that caused them to trigger.
Lazav copies exactly what was printed on the original card and nothing else. It doesn't copy any information about the object the card was before it was put into a graveyard.
The spell or ability that constituted a crime doesn't have to have resolved yet or at all. As soon as you're finished casting the spell, activating the ability, or putting the triggered ability on the stack, you've committed a crime.
When Lazav becomes a copy of an exiled creature card, it's neither entering nor leaving the battlefield. Any enters-the-battlefield or leaves-the-battlefield abilities won't trigger.
8 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗
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