Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp!

Zabaz is a one mana 0/0 with modular 1 and 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 and if you pay a red you destroy target artifact you control and if you pay a white Zabaz gains flying until end of turn.

Zabaz was made to be the modular Commander, being a Hardened Scales in the Command Zone for modular creatures. The play style is simple enough that newer players can easily put a modular Commander deck and see what to do.

What I want to do is a bit of a twist to it. Yes there will be a lot of modular creatures, but I also want to add a bit of an aristocrats and reanimation package to the deck because a majority of our creatures are low mana value artifact creatures that provide value when they die and we can bring them back pretty easily.

The first thing we need are our modular creatures suite, of which we are aiming for most of them to be pretty low mana value.

Arcbound Slith is perfect because it is a two mana modular creature that we can cast pretty early on and whenever it deals combat damage to a player we can put an additional +1/+1 counter on it, and all of that can start accumulating value early in the game.

Arcbound Worker is a one mana modular creature, Arcbound Mouser is a one mana modular 1 creature with lifelink, Arcbound Prototype is a two mana modular 2 creature, and Arcbound Javelineer is a one mana modular 1 creature that can tap and remove X +1/+1 counters form itself to deal X damage to target attacking or blocking creature.

As we get to the higher mana value modular creatures, we need to see what value they offer. For example, when Arcbound Shikari enters we put a +1/+1 counter on each other artifact creature we control while itself is a modular 2 creature with first strike.

Another solid pick is Arcbound Tracker which is has modular 2 and menace while also gaining a +1/+1 counter whenever we cast a spell other than the first spell we cast each turn, meaning that if we can cast a couple of cheap spells each turn, we can get Arcbound Tracker to be even bigger.

Of course one of the better modular creatures is Arcbound Ravager, which has modular 1 and we can use it as a sacrifice outlet that can help us get the modular triggers to put the +1/+1 counters on Zabaz or any other artifact creature we want.

The next thing we need are ways to take advantage of the death triggers from our modular triggers.

Goblin Engineer does quite a lot of what we need, because it gets an artifact from our library to the graveyard when it enters and for one mana, tap, and sacrifice an artifact we can return target artifact with mana value three or less from our graveyard to the battlefield, which both sacrifices a modular creature and can bring one back.

Scrap Welder can make have us make use of some of higher mana value modular creatures by tapping and sacrificing an artifact with mana value X and return target artifact with mana value less than X from our graveyard onto the battlefield with haste, which again works well as a sacrifice outlet and reanimation piece.

As a bit of a wild card, Calamity, Galloping Inferno is a wild way for us to make use of sacrificing creatures because when it attacks while saddled then we choose a nonlegendary creature that saddled it and make a tapped and attacking token copy of that creature that sacrifices itself at the beginning of the end step, and we repeat that once meaning that we can have two modular creature copies attacking and sacrificing themselves to add on the counters.

Throne of Geth can be used to sacrifice an artifact to proliferate, Culling Dais can sacrifice a creature to put a charge counter on itself and later we can then sacrifice it to draw a card for each charge counter on it, and Dusk Rose Reliquary can exile a creature when it enters at the additional cost of a creature or artifact and ward 2 to boot.

We can also take even more advantage of counters on our creatures with something like Resourceful Defense which whenever a permanent we control leaves the battlefield, if it had counters on it we put those counters on a permanent we control, and then we can pay five mana to move counters from one permanent to another.

If you happen to have access to The Ozolith then that would be better, since whenever a creature we control would leave the battlefield, if it had counters we can move them to The Ozolith and at the beginning of combat on our turn, if The Ozolith has counters, then we can move all of them onto target creature with a one mana casting cost.

The last thing we need is our reanimation package so we can get our modular creatures back and get the +1/+1 counters stacking up.

Reunion of the House is perfect for us because we return any number of creatures we control with a total power of 10 or less from our graveyard to the battlefield, and since all of our modular creature have 0 power, we can bring them all back to the battlefield.

Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle is a pretty good way for us to start bringing our creatures back early since whenever we cast a historic spell we can return a creature with mana value three or less from our graveyard to the battlefield.

We can use Organic Extinction as a way to get rid of nonartifact creatures our opponents control and with Improvise we can cast with the artifacts we have in play, and if we happen to get our board wiped we can use Scrap Mastery to exile the artifacts in all graveyards and then have everyone sacrifice their artifacts and bring back the artifacts that were put into exile onto the battlefield

There is also a basically infinite way for us to bring a creature back and forth through a combination of Together Forever, which when it enters support 2 and for one mana we choose a creature with a counter on it and when that creature dies we return that creature to its owner’s hand and with Asnod’s Altar.

The way the loop works is to target a cheap modular creature, in this case say Arcbound Worker, with Together Forever, then sacrifice it to Ashnod’s Altar to make two mana, the Worker comes back to our hand and we can use one of the mana to recast the worker, another mana to target it again with Together Forever and keep the process going until we either get a massive number of +1/+1 counters on Zabaz to win us the game or a variety of other options.

We can use Slagstone Refinery as a way to get a ton of Powerstone tokens with an artifact creature dying over and over again, pile all of the counters onto a Walking Ballista so we can deal basically a massive amount of damage, or Hangarback Walker so we can get a ton of Thopter tokens and give them haste when paired with Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival.

Zabaz is an engine Commander, in that they are what the deck is built around and having our modular creatures gain additional +1/+1 counters is great, while also having ways of getting rid of the artifacts we control to gain a benefit and then bring them back for a repeat of that benefit is also great.

Zabaz being a one mana Commander is a boon and a bane, since a lot of players won’t feel bad using their removal on Zabaz in the early game, which can rack up the Commander Tax pretty quickly. What’s more is that we’ll need Zabaz in play in order to start reaping the benefits of modular so it can be very risky keeping them out without any way to protect them.

That being said, Zabaz is efficient and to the point and does the job really well, whether you go pure modular or add a bit of aristocrats and reanimation, and you can win pretty handily in a variety of ways, which is the benefit of engine Commanders for the most part.

Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual