Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Etali, Primal Storm
Etali, Primal Storm
Legendary Creature — Elder Dinosaur · {4}{R}{R} · Red commander
Whenever Etali attacks, exile the top card of each player's library, then you may cast any number of spells from among those cards without paying their mana costs.
Build an Etali, Primal Storm deck →
What Etali, Primal Storm actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · attackWhenever Etali attacks, exile the top card of each player's library, then you may cast any number of spells from among those cards without paying their mana costs.
What an Etali, Primal Storm deck needs
Plays as commander attack engine — free spells. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- haste and extra combats so Etali attacks as often as possible
- evasion and protection for Etali (the trigger is hers alone)
- a library of expensive spells that are free when she exiles them
The Etali, Primal Storm deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 6× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 6× Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
- 8× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 3× Answer a whole board at once
- 10× Refill your hand
- 8× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
- 24× Mana value at or above the floor — for a cascade commander a cheap card is a DEFECT, not a bargain
Best cards for Etali, Primal Storm
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- Rising of the Day3 mana
- Thousand-Year Elixir3 mana
- The Fire Crystal4 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Urabrask the Hidden5 mana
- Fervor3 mana
- Hammer of Purphoros3 mana
Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Goblin War Drums3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- Archetype of Aggression3 mana
- Beamtown Beatstick1 mana
- Sticky Fingers1 mana
- Ajani's Anguish1 mana
- Shadowspear1 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Wild Magic Surge2 mana
- Crush1 mana
- Umezawa's Jitte2 mana
- Titan's Presence3 mana
- Abrade2 mana
- Untimely Malfunction2 mana
- Chaos Warp3 mana
- Kozilek's Command2 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Imperial Recruiter3 mana
- Shield-Wall Sentinel4 mana
- Skyship Weatherlight4 mana
- Moonsilver Key2 mana
- Pattern Matcher4 mana
- Gamble1 mana
- Forerunner of the Empire4 mana
- Hoarding Dragon5 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Blasphemous Act9 mana
- Chain Reaction4 mana
- Street Spasm1 mana
- Selective Obliteration5 mana
- Mizzium Mortars2 mana
- Delete2 mana
- Earthquake1 mana
- Apocalypse5 mana
Refill your hand
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Professional Face-Breaker3 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Sticky Fingers1 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
- Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty3 mana
- Adaptive Omnitool2 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Hexing Squelcher2 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
- Wayfarer's Bauble1 mana
Mana value at or above the floor — for a cascade commander a cheap card is a DEFECT, not a bargain
- Excalibur, Sword of Eden12 mana
- Ancient Stone Idol10 mana
- Blightsteel Colossus12 mana
- Charred Foyer // Warped Space10 mana
- Darksteel Colossus11 mana
- Emrakul, the Promised End13 mana
- Emrakul, the World Anew12 mana
- Flayer of Loyalties10 mana