Skip to content
Commander Nexus
  1. Commander Nexus
  2. Commanders
  3. Zhao, the Moon Slayer

Command zone

Zhao, the Moon Slayer

Zhao, the Moon Slayer

Legendary Creature — Human Soldier

Zhao wants a deck that slows the whole table down with rules everyone must follow. It also works in a deck built around Humans or Soldiers.

  • Mana cost1 genericred
  • Red ()
  • Power / toughness2 / 2
  • RarityRare

Menace

Nonbasic lands enter tapped.

7 generic: Put a conqueror counter on Zhao.

As long as Zhao has a conqueror counter on him, nonbasic lands are Mountains. (They lose all other land types and abilities and have "tap: Add red.")

Build a deck with Zhao Find it in the app

Archetypes
Themes

Cards That Fit Zhao, the Moon Slayer

Picked for what they do in Zhao's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Zhao'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

Does what Zhao, the Moon Slayer does6

The 6 Cards

Rulings for Zhao, the Moon Slayer

explain how Zhao 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 2 Oct 2025

If an effect states that a land enters tapped unless a condition is met, Zhao, the Moon Slayer's second ability has it enter tapped even if that condition is true. For example, you may control a basic land while playing Abandoned Air Temple, but Abandoned Air Temple will still enter tapped.

Wizards of the Coast 2 Oct 2025

While Zhao has a conqueror counter on him, if a nonbasic land has an ability that triggers "when" it enters, it will lose that ability before it can trigger. Nonbasic lands will lose any other land types and abilities they had. They will have the land type Mountain and the intrinsic ability "{T}: Add {R}." This effect doesn't affect names or supertypes. It won't turn any land into a basic land or remove the legendary supertype from a legendary land, and the lands won't be named "Mountain."

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

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Zhao, 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 glossaryRPlayers write colors as letters: R for red.StaxStax decks slow the whole game down with cards that make spells cost more, stop lands from untapping, or limit what players can do each turn. The deck is built so those limits hurt it least. Many groups dislike playing against it, so check with your table first.Open the Stax pageLand LockChanges what opponents' lands are or do, usually stripping nonbasic lands of their abilities. In a format where most decks lean on nonbasic lands for their colors, it can shut a deck off almost entirely. Blood Moon, Magus of the MoonOpen the Land Lock 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 pageEvasionAn ability that makes a creature hard to block, so its attacks reach the player. Flying, menace, landwalk and plain 'can't be blocked' are the common kinds.Open the Evasion page