BorosLegendary Artifact Creature — InsectZabaz, the Glimmerwasp
Mana value1Rank#11,584
The Commander
Modular 1
If a modular triggered ability would put one or more +1/+1 counters on a creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on it instead.
: Destroy target artifact you control.
: Zabaz gains flying until end of turn.
Guide
Gameplan
Flood the board with cheap modular artifact creatures, then sacrifice them (via Zabaz's own ability or other outlets) so their boosted counters cascade onto your other artifacts. You snowball counters thanks to the +1 replacement effect, going wide and tall simultaneously before swinging with evasive, oversized robots.
Strengths
- Extremely cheap commander (1 mana) that comes back easily and enables a counter-snowball engine
- Built-in artifact sacrifice outlet plus evasion in the command zone
- Boros artifact synergies are deep and resilient—wide boards recover from single removal
- Each modular trigger gets +1, so value compounds fast across many small creatures
Weaknesses
- Board wipes and mass artifact removal (Vandalblast, Bane of Progress) are devastating
- Lacks card draw and ramp natively—RW must lean on artifacts for both
- Diminished without Zabaz on the battlefield; a key engine piece is a single creature
- No native interaction beyond destroying your own artifacts; can struggle against combo
Key Cards
- Arcbound Ravager — Modular sacrifice engine that snowballs counters and pressures opponents while feeding Zabaz's payoff.
- Hangarback Walker — Modular creature that dies into tokens and dumps boosted counters elsewhere, a perfect Zabaz body.
- Steel Overseer — Repeatable counter generation across your whole artifact army for explosive wide turns.
- Anointed Procession — Doubles modular and Servo/Thopter tokens, multiplying your counter payoff and board presence.
- Goblin Bombardment — Free sacrifice outlet to redistribute modular counters at instant speed and close games.
- Inkmoth Nexus — A repeatable infect-able artifact target to stack boosted counters and threaten poison or big trample swings.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana and ramp (Sol Ring, mana rocks, Mishra's Bauble for cantrips) and card advantage like The Reality Chip or Skullclamp to refuel after sacrifices. Tighten the curve with the best cheap modular creatures and counter doublers (Doubling Season, Cathars' Crusade), and lean into an infect or Triumph of the Hordes finisher for explosive kills. Protect the engine with Teferi's Protection, Heroic Intervention, and selective recursion to beat wraths.
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
- ▸Overwhelming evasive artifact creatures buffed by stacked counters (Zabaz grants flying)
- ▸Modular counters piled onto an infect creature like Inkmoth Nexus or Triumph of the Hordes
- ▸Going wide with token doublers and an anthem/Cathars' Crusade snowball
- ▸Arcbound Ravager-style sacrifice loops generating a lethal single attacker
Archetypes
- Artifact Aggro/Go-Wide — Cheap modular creatures plus Zabaz's counter boost build a fast, evasive board.
- +1/+1 Counters — Zabaz amplifies every modular trigger, turning counter synergies into a core win engine.
- Aristocrats — Sacrificing modular artifacts redistributes counters while triggering death payoffs.
- Combo — Modular plus free sac outlets and counter doublers can assemble lethal or infinite-feeling loops.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (RW), by popularity.
