
Zenos yae Galvus
Legendary Creature — Human Noble Warrior
My First Friend — When Zenos yae Galvus enters, choose a creature an opponent controls. Until end of turn, creatures other than Zenos yae Galvus and the chosen creature get -2/-2.
When the chosen creature leaves the battlefield, transform Zenos yae Galvus.
4 / 4
Commander bracket
Derived from card traits, not a ruling — bracket rules turn on how a deck intends to use a card. Bracket rules
EDHREC
Combos
Not part of any combo on Commander Spellbook.
Commander recommendations
Top synergy 50
Played far more in this commander's decks than elsewhere.
- Summon: Primal Odin
- Vorpal Sword
- Rogue's Passage
- Maha, Its Feathers Night
- Overkill
- The Darkness Crystal
- Commander's Plate
- Massacre Wurm
- Unstoppable Slasher
- Tainted Strike
- Swiftfoot Boots
- Grafted Exoskeleton
- Infernal Grasp
- Mithril Coat
- Blackblade Reforged
- Defile
- Tree of Perdition
- Zodiark, Umbral God
- Snuff Out
- Dread Presence
- Phyresis
- Night's Whisper
- Lashwrithe
- K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
- Massacre Girl, Known Killer
- Go for the Throat
- Deadly Rollick
- Grievous Wound
- Shizo, Death's Storehouse
- Dark Confidant
- Morbid Opportunist
- Vincent Valentine
- Imp's Mischief
- Nightmare Lash
- Shadowspear
- Sudden Spoiling
- Sign in Blood
- Phyrexian Arena
- Kaya's Ghostform
- Withering Torment
- Phage the Untouchable
- Dismember
- Phyrexian Obliterator
- Sorin Markov
- Pact Weapon
- Consuming Corruption
- Qarsi Revenant
- Champion's Helm
- Bloodletter of Aclazotz
- Tragic Slip
Most included 50
Highest share of decks running them, distinctive or not.
- Swamp
- Sol Ring
- Dark Ritual
- Jet Medallion
- Arcane Signet
- Summon: Primal Odin
- Swiftfoot Boots
- Defile
- Feed the Swarm
- Vorpal Sword
- Rogue's Passage
- The Darkness Crystal
- Crypt Ghast
- Phyrexian Arena
- Cabal Coffers
- Infernal Grasp
- Sign in Blood
- Gray Merchant of Asphodel
- Massacre Wurm
- Toxic Deluge
- Bojuka Bog
- Withering Torment
- Night's Whisper
- Overkill
- Lightning Greaves
- Deadly Rollick
- Maha, Its Feathers Night
- Imp's Mischief
- Morbid Opportunist
- Go for the Throat
- K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
- Commander's Plate
- Reanimate
- Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
- Snuff Out
- Unstoppable Slasher
- Dread Presence
- Black Market Connections
- Exsanguinate
- Tainted Strike
- Mithril Coat
- Tragic Slip
- Cabal Stronghold
- Zodiark, Umbral God
- Grafted Exoskeleton
- Solemn Simulacrum
- Consuming Corruption
- Shizo, Death's Storehouse
- Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
- Blackblade Reforged
Format legality
Rulings
- 2025-06-06
A nonmodal double-faced card enters with its front face up by default, unless a spell or ability instructs you to put it onto the battlefield transformed or allows you to cast it transformed, in which case it enters with its back face up.
- 2025-06-06
A token that is created as a copy of a double-faced permanent or a double-faced card in another zone is a double-faced token. It will have both the front face and back face of whatever object it's copying. If it's copying a double-faced permanent whose back face is up, the token will enter with its back face up. It can transform if instructed to do so.
- 2025-06-06
Each face of a nonmodal double-faced card has its own set of characteristics: name, types, subtypes, abilities, and so on. While a nonmodal double-faced permanent is on the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of the face that's currently up. The other set of characteristics is ignored.
- 2025-06-06
Each nonmodal double-faced card in this release is cast face up. In every zone other than the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of its front face. If it is on the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of the face that's up; the other face's characteristics are ignored.
- 2025-06-06
If this card somehow enters the battlefield with its back face up, it didn't transform, so you won't choose an opponent.
- 2025-06-06
If you are instructed to put a card that isn't a double-faced card onto the battlefield transformed, it will not enter at all. In that case, it stays in the zone it was previously in. For example, if a single-faced card is a copy of Crystal Fragments, it will be exiled during the resolution of its second ability and remain in exile.
- 2025-06-06
In the Commander variant, a double-faced card's color identity is determined by the mana costs and mana symbols in the rules text of both faces combined. If either face has a color indicator or basic land type, those are also considered. For example, Cecil, Dark Knight's color identity is black and white, since its front face is black and its back face has a white color indicator.
- 2025-06-06
In the case where you can't choose a creature an opponent controls for Zenos's first ability (probably because your opponents control no creatures), other creatures will still get -2/-2 until end of turn when Zenos's first ability resolves.
- 2025-06-06
The back face of a nonmodal double-faced card usually has a color indicator that defines its color.
- 2025-06-06
The mana value of a nonmodal double-faced card is the mana value of its front face, no matter which face is up.