GolgariLegendary Creature — Troll WarriorVarolz, the Scar-Striped
Mana value3Rank#12,669
The Commander
Each creature card in your graveyard has scavenge. The scavenge cost is equal to its mana cost. (Exile a creature card from your graveyard and pay its mana cost: Put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to that card's power on target creature. Scavenge only as a sorcery.)
Sacrifice another creature: Regenerate Varolz.
Guide
Gameplan
Varolz turns your graveyard into a counter engine: dump big creatures into the yard, then scavenge them onto a single target to build a lethal threat. You ramp out Varolz turn 3, fill the yard with self-mill and free sacrifice outlets, then voltron up a creature (often Varolz himself) and swing for commander damage. The sac-to-regenerate ability also makes him a resilient aristocrats hub.
Strengths
- Cheap, repeatable counter generation that doesn't require casting the creatures
- Self-protecting commander via regeneration that doubles as a sac outlet
- Synergizes with high-power creatures, mill, and graveyard recursion
- Counters stack permanently and can be moved/doubled for explosive growth
Weaknesses
- Scavenge is sorcery-speed and exiles the card, so it's vulnerable to removal in response
- All-in voltron lines fold to a single instant-speed kill spell with no counters protecting against exile
- Graveyard hate (Rest in Peace, Bojuka Bog) shuts off the whole engine
- Two-color BG lacks card draw and interaction depth compared to three-color builds
Key Cards
- Death's Shadow — 13 power for one mana in the yard makes it the single best scavenge target, dumping a pile of counters cheaply.
- Lord of Extinction — Its power scales with all graveyards, giving an absurd scavenge payload as the game goes long.
- Phyrexian Dreadnought — 12-power body for one mana that's easy to dump into the yard and scavenge for a huge swing.
- Hardened Scales — Multiplies every scavenge and counter effect, accelerating your voltron clock.
- Doubling Season — Doubles all +1/+1 counters from scavenge, instantly turning a single activation lethal.
- Greater Good — Free sacrifice outlet that fuels both Varolz's regeneration and fills the graveyard with fresh scavenge fodder.
Upgrade Path
Add evasion and protection so your investment sticks: Rogue's Passage, Whispersilk Cloak, and Heroic Intervention or Tyvar's Stand to dodge removal. Lean into the counter-doublers (Hardened Scales, Branching Evolution, Doubling Season) and proliferate, and improve graveyard filling with Buried Alive, Stitcher's Supplier, and Golgari Grave-Troll. Round it out with fast mana and tutors to consistently land Varolz turn three and find your one-card payloads.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Commander damage from a heavily-scavenged, evasive Varolz or another carrier
- ▸Trampling over with a giant counter-laden beater plus Hardened Scales/Doubling Season
- ▸Aristocrats drain via Blood Artist effects while sacrificing creatures
- ▸One-shot kills using huge graveyard creatures like Death's Shadow or Lord of Extinction onto an unblockable threat
Archetypes
- Voltron — Stack counters onto a single evasive creature to win with commander or combat damage.
- Aristocrats — His sacrifice ability and counter generation pair with sac-payoff and recursion creatures.
- Reanimator/Graveyard — Filling the yard with huge creatures doubles as both reanimation and scavenge fuel.
- +1/+1 Counters — Scavenge feeds counter-matters payoffs like proliferate and doublers.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BG), by popularity.
