The Commander
Menace
Nonbasic lands enter tapped.
: 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 "
: Add 
.")
Guide
Gameplan
Drop Zhao on turn two as a cheap menace beater while his passive taxes every opponent by making their nonbasic lands enter tapped, slowing their development. Push aggressive damage early, then in the mid-to-late game pump to flip on a permanent Blood Moon effect that wrecks greedy nonbasic-heavy manabases, locking opponents out while you close with red aggro and burn.
Strengths
- Two-mana commander with menace that's hard to block and pressures life totals immediately
- Built-in soft stax: nonbasic lands entering tapped slows every opponent's tempo for free
- Can become a permanent Blood Moon on a body via the conqueror counter, devastating multicolor and utility-land decks
- Mono-red consistency, low color requirements, and easy to rebuild after removal since he's cheap
Weaknesses
- His own ability hurts you too unless your manabase leans on basic Mountains
- Mono-red lacks card advantage and reliable interaction outside burn
- The activation is expensive and slow; the lock arrives late
- Vulnerable to spot removal and board wipes that reset your aggressive starts
- No built-in protection or evasion beyond menace; chump blockers stall him
Key Cards
- Blood Moon — Stacks with Zhao's stax theme and provides the nonbasic-to-Mountain lock without needing the activation.
- Magus of the Moon — A redundant Blood Moon on a body that reinforces the land-hate plan.
- Embercleave — Menace plus extra bodies makes connecting trivial, turning Zhao into a one-shot threat.
- Fellwar Stone — Color-fixing and ramp that ignores your own land-tapping and Blood Moon downsides better than nonbasics.
- Winter Moon — Doubles down by taxing nonbasic lands, compounding Zhao's tempo denial.
- Endless Atlas — Rare card draw for mono-red that thrives in a basics-heavy build.
Upgrade Path
Convert your manabase to mostly basic Mountains so Zhao and stacked Blood Moon effects only hurt opponents, then add redundant moon effects (Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon, Harbinger of the Seas) for a consistent lock. Layer in mono-red card advantage like Endless Atlas, Outpost Siege, and impulse draw to fight the color's grind problem, and add fast equipment plus haste enablers to close before the late-game ever matters. Tighten the curve and add efficient interaction (Faithless Looting filtering, Chaos Warp, Vandalblast) to protect the lock.
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 with an evasive, equipped Zhao (Embercleave, Sword effects)
- ▸Going wide with red aggro creatures and overrunning a mana-screwed table
- ▸Locking out nonbasic-reliant opponents with Blood Moon effects, then grinding them out
- ▸Direct burn to the face after the stax plan stalls the board
Archetypes
- Stax — Zhao's tapped-land passive and Blood Moon ability punish nonbasic-heavy manabases and slow the table.
- Aggro — A cheap menace creature plus mono-red beaters and equipment race opponents down before they stabilize.
- Voltron — Menace and a low mana value make Zhao a natural carrier for equipment and pump to deal commander damage.
- Burn — Red's direct damage finishes opponents the land lock has already crippled.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (R), by popularity.
