SultaiLegendary Creature — Human Fungus PirateXavier Sal, Infested Captain
Mana value3Rank#8,403
The Commander
, 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.)
, 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.)
Guide
Gameplan
Xavier Sal turns counters into an engine: proliferate counters across your board, then convert removed counters into populate triggers to flood the field with copies of your best creature tokens. You build a wide army of token copies while sacrificing fodder to grow everything, eventually overwhelming the table with combat damage or value loops.
Strengths
- Two flexible engines (populate and proliferate) on a cheap 3-mana commander
- Deep synergy with +1/+1 counters, charge counters, and any token-making strategy
- Sultai colors give access to the best ramp, card draw, and recursion
- Sacrifice outlet built into the command zone fuels aristocrats payoffs
Weaknesses
- Both abilities are sorcery-speed and tap Xavier, so it's slow and only one activation per turn each
- Heavily reliant on having counters and creature tokens already in play — weak without setup
- Vulnerable to commander removal and board wipes that reset your token engine
- No built-in evasion or protection; needs the rest of the deck to close games
Key Cards
- Doubling Season — Doubles token copies from populate and counters, supercharging both of Xavier's abilities.
- Hardened Scales — Stacks extra counters that proliferate then multiplies across your board.
- Ezuri, Renegade Leader — Pairs with token armies and counter synergies as a regenerating overrun engine.
- Branching Evolution — Multiplies +1/+1 counters so proliferate snowballs into a huge board.
- Master Biomancer — Turns every token into a counter-laden body, giving Xavier endless proliferate fuel.
- Cathars' Crusade — Every token entering pumps your whole board, and populate adds more counters to spread.
- Mikaeus, the Unhallowing — Combo piece with a free sac outlet and -1/-1 counters for infinite recursion loops.
Upgrade Path
Add token doublers (Doubling Season, Parallel Lives) and counter multipliers (Hardened Scales, Branching Evolution) to make every activation exponential. Include free or repeatable sacrifice outlets and aristocrat payoffs (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat) plus a Craterhoof-style finisher. Tighten the curve with strong Sultai ramp and protect Xavier with Heroic Intervention and Lightning Greaves so the engine survives to take over.
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
- ▸Going wide with copied tokens and an overrun effect like Craterhoof Behemoth or Ezuri
- ▸Proliferating planeswalker loyalty to game-ending ultimates
- ▸Aristocrats drain via Blood Artist effects fueled by repeated sacrifices
- ▸Infinite combo loops using counter manipulation and free sacrifice outlets
Archetypes
- +1/+1 Counters — Proliferate grows your creatures and planeswalkers while populate copies counter-laden tokens.
- Tokens — Populate floods the board with copies of your strongest creature tokens each turn.
- Aristocrats — The sacrifice ability fuels death-trigger payoffs while advancing your counter engine.
- Superfriends/Combo — Proliferate ultimates planeswalkers fast and enables counter-based infinite loops.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BGU), by popularity.
