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Commander Nexus
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  3. Xavier Sal, Infested Captain

Command zone

Xavier Sal, Infested Captain

Xavier Sal, Infested Captain

Legendary Creature — Human Fungus Pirate

Xavier Sal wants a deck that makes an army of small creatures and attacks with all of them. It also suits a deck that sacrifices its own creatures to drain opponents' life.

  • Mana costblackgreenblue
  • Blue, Black, Green ()
  • Power / toughness3 / 3
  • RarityRare

tap, Remove a counter from another permanent you control: Populate. Activate only as a sorcery. (Create a token that's a copy of a creature token you control.)

tap, Sacrifice another creature: Proliferate. Activate only as a sorcery. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.)

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Cards That Fit Xavier Sal, Infested Captain

Picked for what they do in Xavier Sal's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Xavier Sal'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.Sol RingOpen the full glossary

plan6

The 6 Cards

plan6

The 6 Cards

plan6

The 6 Cards

Rulings for Xavier Sal, Infested Captain

explain how Xavier Sal 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 Coast 10 Nov 2023

An ability that triggers "Whenever you proliferate" triggers even if you chose no permanents or players while doing so.

Wizards of the Coast 10 Nov 2023

If a player or permanent has more than one kind of counter on it, and you choose for it to get additional counters, it must get one of each kind of counter it already has. You can't have it get just one kind of counter it already has and not the others.

Wizards of the Coast 10 Nov 2023

Players can respond to a spell or ability whose effect includes proliferating. Once that spell or ability starts to resolve, however, and its controller chooses which permanents and players will get new counters, it's too late for anyone to respond.

Wizards of the Coast 10 Nov 2023

To proliferate, you can choose any permanent that has a counter, including ones controlled by opponents. You can choose any player who has a counter, including opponents. You can't choose cards in any zone other than the battlefield, even if they have counters on them.

Wizards of the Coast 10 Nov 2023

You don't have to choose every permanent or player that has a counter, only the ones you want to add another counter to. Since "any number" includes zero, you don't have to choose any permanents at all, and you don't have to choose any players at all.

Wizards of the Coast 12 Jan 2024

Any enters-the-battlefield abilities of the copied token will trigger when the new token enters the battlefield. Any "as [this creature] enters the battlefield" or "[this creature] enters the battlefield with" abilities of the copied token will also work.

Wizards of the Coast 12 Jan 2024

If you choose to copy a creature token that's a copy of another creature, the new creature token will copy the characteristics of whatever the original token is copying.

Wizards of the Coast 12 Jan 2024

If you control no creature tokens when you populate, nothing will happen.

Wizards of the Coast 12 Jan 2024

Populate doesn't target the creature token you're copying. You choose that creature token as you're taking the populate action. You can choose any creature token you control. If a spell or ability causes you to create a creature token and then instructs you to populate, you may choose to copy the token you just created, or you may choose to copy another creature token you control.

Wizards of the Coast 12 Jan 2024

The new creature token copies the characteristics of the original token as stated by the effect that created the original token.

Wizards of the Coast 12 Jan 2024

The new token doesn't copy whether the original token is tapped or untapped, whether it has any counters on it or Auras and Equipment attached to it, or any noncopy effects that have changed its power, toughness, color, and so on.

11 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Xavier Sal, and what they share.

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 glossaryUBGPlayers write colors as letters: U for blue, B for black, G for green. Blue is U because B was already taken by black.TokensToken decks fill the battlefield with small creatures made by their cards, then attack with all of them or make them all bigger at once. A token is a creature (or other object) that a card creates, not a card from your deck.Open the Tokens pageToken PayoffRewards you for making or having tokens: counting them, copying them, or making every one of them bigger. These are the cards that turn a lot of small creatures into a way to actually win. Anointed Procession, Trostani, Selesnya's VoiceOpen the Token Payoff pageToken EngineMakes tokens again and again rather than once. A token is a creature or other permanent created by a card, with no card of its own. Something that makes one token gives you a body; something that makes them every turn gives you a board you can keep rebuilding after it is cleared. Grave Titan, Bitterblossom, OphiomancerOpen the Token Engine pageCounter ManipulationAdds, moves or multiplies counters already on permanents. It works on any kind (+1/+1, loyalty, charge), so the same card can serve very different decks. Karn's Bastion, Doubling SeasonOpen the Counter Manipulation pageSacrifice OutletA permanent that lets you sacrifice your own creatures or artifacts whenever you want, usually for free. Every Aristocrats deck needs one, because cards that reward a creature dying only help if you choose when it dies. Ashnod's Altar, Viscera SeerOpen the Sacrifice Outlet pageCounter EngineAdds +1/+1 counters over and over rather than once. A counter here is a small permanent marker that raises a creature's power and toughness for good. It is not a counterspell, which is a different thing entirely. Something that adds them every turn makes your whole board bigger and keeps it that way. Hardened Scales, Corpsejack MenaceOpen the Counter Engine pageAristocratsAristocrats decks sacrifice their own creatures on purpose and profit every time one dies, often by draining life from each opponent. A sacrifice outlet, a card that lets you sacrifice whenever you like, decides when that happens.Open the Aristocrats pageSacrificeSacrifice decks give up their own creatures, Treasures and other cards on purpose and get something back each time. A sacrifice outlet, a card that lets you sacrifice whenever you want, is the heart of the deck.Open the Sacrifice pageToken MakerCreates one or more tokens. Different cards make very different ones: creatures Grave Titan, Treasures Smothering Tithe, Clues Tireless Tracker or Food Gilded Goose. This is one of our largest tags, so pair it with an archetype or theme when you are hunting a specific kind.Open the Token Maker page