Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Decoding Szat's Will: History, Myth, and Magic
In the sprawling tapestry of Magic lore, black spells often tread the line between order and entropy—between the whispered bargains of a necromancer and the brutal calculus of power. Szat's Will, an instant from Commander Legends, sits squarely in that tradition. With a mana cost of four mana and a single black mana, this rare instant embodies the tension of a color that loves to tug at the living and the dead alike 🧙♂️🔥💎. As a card printed for a set that celebrates the merry chaos and high-stakes politics of multi-player Commander decks, Szat's Will invites you to decide how far you’re willing to push the balance between aggression and reclamation.
What the card does—and why it feels mythic
At first glance, Szat's Will is a clean, black instant with a flexible edge: choose one, unless you’re piloting a legendary commander, in which case you may choose both. The first option is a classic black tempo move: each opponent sacrifices a creature they control with the greatest power. It’s a brutal, targeted nudge that punishes your opponents for overcommitting big threats or simply thriving on wide boards. The second option is where the flavor blossoms into something more cinematic: exile all opponents’ graveyards, then create X 0/1 black Thrull creature tokens, where X is the greatest power among creature cards exiled this way. That second half is pure necromantic theater—graveyards emptied, and a swarm of Thrull thralls rising from the ash to answer the spell’s call ⚔️🎨.
These dual modes sit well with the Commander Legends flavor, a set renowned for its indomitable love of legendary commanders, wild political games, and the sly mechanics that reward players who plan several turns ahead. The card’s rarity—Rare—and its placement in a set designed to celebrate table politics reinforce the sense that you’re peering into a ritual rather than simply casting a spell. The Thrull tokens themselves are a nod to the long-running black creature type that Magic’s earliest days anchored around necromancy and servitor life—tiny, tenacious constructs that once crowded old Dominaria battlefields. Szat’s Will doesn’t just erase the graveyard; it builds new bodies to inhabit the night’s quiet spaces 🧙♂️💎.
Thematic threads: death, power, and the commander’s shadow
From a lore perspective, Szat’s Will taps into several evergreen motifs. Black’s fascination with death is never abstract here; the card literalizes the idea of “the greatest power” dominating a battlefield—forcing opponents to reveal their most dangerous creature and then ripping away their graveyard—before birthing a throng of Thrulls to serve the spell’s caster. The “choose one; if you control a commander, you may choose both” clause is especially flavorful in Commander games, where the presence of a prominent commander can tilt the spell toward a broader, more explosive plan. It’s a reminder that in the multiverse, legends—like Szat—are not just characters in stories; they’re engines that drive a deck’s strategy across several turns 🧙♂️⚔️.
“When the will of a dark architect meets the pulse of a table full of legends, every graveyard becomes a staging ground for the next act.”
In practice, Szat’s Will excites players who enjoy the interplay between hand, graveyard, and board state. The exile-and-create- Thrulls portion rewards you for exiling a truly powerful set of creatures, turning a potential graveyard hate moment into a productive engine. It’s a spell that rewards both board control and resource denial, letting you convert your opponents’ discarded or faded threats into a fresh, and sometimes overwhelming, swarming army. The effect lands squarely in the wheelhouse of modern black strategies that pivot on graveyard interaction while delivering a terminal punch when the timing aligns with your commander’s presence on the battlefield 🧙♂️🔥.
Deck-building sensibilities and practical playtips
- Commander-centric synergy: The reminder that you may choose both options if you control a commander makes Szat’s Will excellent in decks that lean on legendary leaders. Cast it when your table is ready for a two-pronged assault: weaken opposing boards and set up a Thrull generation engine that scales with how aggressively you exile graveyards.
- Graveyard politics: The exile effect pushes players to consider how much value their opponents have waiting in their graveyards. In tables where graveyard hate is common, Szat’s Will can become a potent political bargaining chip—your opponents may hesitate to exile their own threats, lest you siphon their power for your own advantage.
- Thrull payoff strategies: The tokens are 0/1 black Thrulls, which means late-game swarms can be surprisingly resilient in the right shell. Use tutors or sacrifice outlets to maximize the Thrulls’ utility, turning a defensive moment into an aggressive surge that forces tough choices for your rivals.
- Mana and timing: With a relatively steep mana investment, Szat’s Will finishes a two-part plan only when you’ve set up your commander’s presence or when you’re ready to swing with the newly minted Thrulls. In a table with fast starts, the card becomes a powerful catch-up or a tempo finisher, sealing games that otherwise looked wobbly.
Art, rarity, and collectibility: a snapshot of Commander Legends
Designed by Sidharth Chaturvedi, the card’s black frame and classic frame styling scream the 2015 era, even as it sits snugly in the Commander Legends syntax. The set itself shines as a “draft-innovation” showcase, which makes Szat’s Will a thoughtful pick for commanders who love to disrupt, exile, or overwhelm. It’s printed in both foil and non-foil versions, with the data showing modest market values—about $0.43 for non-foil and around $0.67 for foil in USD, with modest European equivalents. The EDHREC rank sits a bit down the list (5351), which fits the card’s flavor of being a powerful but somewhat niche engine card—the kind of piece collectors adore for its flavor and play appeal rather than pure price stability 🔥💎.
For collectors, Szat’s Will is a reminder of how a single spell can fuse a thematic concept—necromantic revival with a twist of board control—into a craftable, competitive play pattern. It’s also a testament to the way Commander Legends stitched together the flavor of old-school black magic with modern, multiplayer fireworks, an alchemy that fans have celebrated since the set’s preview articles rolled out in late 2020. The illustration, the token design, and the card’s place in a highly social format all contribute to its lasting appeal 🎨⚔️.
Cross-promotional moment and practical takeaway
If you’re building a table-ready theme around manipulation of the graveyard, exile effects, or Thrull-centric boards, Szat’s Will deserves a place on your list. Its flexible design invites you to leverage your commander's presence, while the Thrull tokens offer a classic, stoic artifact of MTG’s early necromancy that continues to resonate with players who enjoy building around archetypes that revolve around the dead and their legions 🧙♂️.
On a tangential note, for fans who love blending tabletop aesthetics with everyday gaming gear, a little cross-promotion never hurts—the Neon Gaming Mouse Pad 9x7 Custom Front Print presents a snazzy way to keep your desk as stylish as your deck. It’s a reminder that the magic of this hobby isn’t confined to the battlefield; it leaks into every corner of your table, your thoughts, and your play space.