SimicLegendary Creature — Phyrexian Elf WarriorEzuri, Claw of Progress
Mana value4Rank#5,643
The Commander
Whenever a creature you control with power 2 or less enters, you get an experience counter.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, put X +1/+1 counters on another target creature you control, where X is the number of experience counters you have.
Guide
Gameplan
Ezuri rewards flooding the board with small creatures, banking experience counters, then dumping huge piles of +1/+1 counters each combat to grow a threat or fuel value engines. You ramp into Ezuri, chain cheap creatures and tokens to stack experience, then either go wide and overrun or pump a single creature into a game-ender. Late game your experience count makes every combat trigger overwhelming.
Strengths
- Experience counters are permanent and survive board wipes, so the engine recovers fast
- Cheap creatures and token makers double as ramp, evasion enablers, and counter fodder
- Massive +1/+1 counter payoffs synergize with proliferate and counter-matters cards
- Blue gives card draw, counterspells, and protection that small-creature decks usually lack
Weaknesses
- Slow to come online and very reliant on the commander resolving and surviving
- Removal on the buffed creature can blow out a whole turn of value
- Vulnerable to board wipes early before experience is banked
- Single-target combat trigger can be answered, and the deck can be low on raw card advantage
Key Cards
- Forgotten Ancient — Stockpiles counters and lets you move them around, amplifying Ezuri's combat pump and going wide.
- Inkmoth Nexus — A cheap evasive creature-land that turns Ezuri's huge counter dump into a one-shot infect kill.
- Walking Ballista — Enters with low power for experience and becomes a removal/wincon once loaded with counters.
- Hardened Scales — Multiplies every +1/+1 counter Ezuri places, turning combat triggers into game-warping swings.
- Cathars' Crusade — Each small creature entering also pumps your whole board while feeding experience counters.
- Champion of Lambholt — Becomes unblockable engine that grows with your token swarm and carries Ezuri's counters safely.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana and counter-doublers (Hardened Scales, Branching Evolution, Doubling Season) plus reliable proliferate to spike experience and counter output. Tighten the early curve with cheap impactful one- and two-drops and tutors (Chord of Calling, Worldly Tutor) to find Craterhoof or an infect package. Improve protection and card flow with Heroic Intervention, Lightning Greaves, and Beast Whisperer so a single removal spell or wrath doesn't end your game.
Core Cards
- Broodbirth Viper
- Llanowar Reborn
- Sakura-Tribe Elder
- Cold-Eyed Selkie
- Solemn Simulacrum
- Sword of Vengeance
- Ohran Viper
- Lorescale Coatl
- Prime Speaker Zegana
- Trygon Predator
- Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
- Stingerfling Spider
Seeded from a single deck — rates appear once more public decks exist.
Win Conditions
- ▸Pump an evasive or infect creature (Inkmoth Nexus, Triumph of the Hordes) for a lethal one-shot
- ▸Go wide with tokens and finish via Overrun / Craterhoof Behemoth
- ▸Beat down with a single giant counter-stacked creature carrying trample or unblockable
- ▸Loop Walking Ballista or counter-based combos for incremental or infinite damage
Archetypes
- +1/+1 Counters — Ezuri's combat trigger and experience scaling make counter-doublers and proliferate insane payoffs.
- Tokens / Go-Wide — Token makers spam power-2-or-less creatures for experience, then alpha strike with an overrun.
- Infect / Voltron — Dumping a pile of counters onto an evasive infect creature one-shots opponents through commander damage-style kills.
- Elfball — Cheap elves provide ramp, experience, and bodies, fitting Ezuri's tribe and curve perfectly.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (GU), by popularity.
