Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Helmut Zemo, Mastermind
Helmut Zemo, Mastermind
Legendary Creature — Human Noble Villain · {2}{U} · Blue commander
Whenever Helmut Zemo attacks, you may cast target instant or sorcery card with mana value less than or equal to his power from your graveyard. If that spell would be put into your graveyard, exile it instead. If you cast a spell this way, put a +1/+1 counter on Helmut Zemo.
Build a Helmut Zemo, Mastermind deck →
What Helmut Zemo, Mastermind 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 Helmut Zemo attacks, you may cast target instant or sorcery card with mana value less than or equal to his power from your graveyard. If that spell would be put into your graveyard,
What a Helmut Zemo, Mastermind deck wants
The plan the Forge derives for this commander: the roles it fills and how many of each.
- 13× Make creature tokens — a static anthem or a go-wide commander needs a board to be wide
- 9× Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- 17× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 7× Refill your hand
- 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
Best cards for Helmut Zemo, Mastermind
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.
Make creature tokens — a static anthem or a go-wide commander needs a board to be wide
- Chasm Skulker3 mana
- Kozilek's Unsealing3 mana
- Trendy Circus Pirate0 mana
- Myr Battlesphere7 mana
- Andúril, Flame of the West3 mana
- Invasion of Segovia // Caetus, Sea Tyrant of Segovia3 mana
- Field of the Dead0 mana
- Spawnbed Protector7 mana
Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- Altar of Dementia2 mana
- Brain Freeze2 mana
- Mindcrank2 mana
- Codex Shredder1 mana
- Hedron Crab1 mana
- Thought Scour1 mana
- Emry, Lurker of the Loch3 mana
- Eden, Seat of the Sanctum0 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Karn's Bastion0 mana
- Ripples of Potential2 mana
- Thrummingbird2 mana
- Contagion Clasp2 mana
- Contentious Plan2 mana
- Experimental Augury2 mana
- Tezzeret's Gambit4 mana
- Dreamtide Whale3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- Suspend1 mana
- Snap2 mana
- Into the Flood Maw1 mana
- Planar Incision2 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Displacement Wave2 mana
- Filter Out3 mana
- Aligned Hedron Network4 mana
- Coercive Portal4 mana
- Whelming Wave4 mana
- Consuming Tide4 mana
- Llawan, Cephalid Empress4 mana
- Part the Veil4 mana
Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- Pact of Negation0 mana
- Counterspell2 mana
- Three Steps Ahead1 mana
- Long River's Pull2 mana
- Force of Will5 mana
- Abjure1 mana
- Archmage's Charm3 mana
- Cancel3 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Reshape2 mana
- Mask of the Mimic1 mana
- Long-Term Plans3 mana
- Transmute Artifact2 mana
- Whir of Invention3 mana
- Merchant Scroll2 mana
- Mystical Tutor1 mana
- Muddle the Mixture2 mana
Refill your hand
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Rhystic Study3 mana
- Faerie Mastermind2 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Combat Research1 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Cryptothrall4 mana
- Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus4 mana
- Lost in the Maze2 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana