Volrath, the Shapestealer

Legendary Creature — Shapeshifter

At the beginning of combat on your turn, put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature.

{1}: Until your next turn, Volrath, the Shapestealer becomes a copy of target creature with a counter on it, except its base power and toughness is 7/5 and it has this ability.

Combos

• Invisible Stalker + Tainted Strike + Volrath, the Shapestealer

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Penny Dreadful	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

Gidgetimer on Volrath and other Clones

1 day ago

No, the duration of effects is not a copiable characteristic. The Clone will be a 7/5 version of whatever Volrath, the Shapestealer was a copy of and have the ability "{1}: Until your next turn Volrath, the Shapestealer becomes a copy of target creature with a counter on it, except it is a 7/5 and has this ability".

Remember that when an ability on a permanent refers to itself by name, it is shorthand for "the permanent this ability is on" so you will be able to make the Clone into copies of things with counters despite it not being named "Volrath, the Shapestealer".

Chaospyke on Volrath and other Clones

1 day ago

If Volrath, the Shapestealer is copying another creature and then any Clone enters the battlefield copying the Volrath, does the second copy stop being a copy of what Volrath copied at the same time Volrath Stops?

legendofa on Is Monstrous a retained effect …

3 months ago

Let's say I have Volrath, the Shapestealer in play, alongside a monstrous Domesticated Hydra. I change Volrath into a copy of D.Hydra and activate Volrath's new Monstrosity ability. I then change Volrath into a Skittering Crustacean. Will I have to activate Crustacean-Volrath's Monstrosity ability, or will it retain Monstrous from the Hydra ability?

Necrosis24 on Anybody have a card that …

5 months ago

SpammyV I'm curious with the Volrath copy of Nacatl War-Pride attack trigger on the stack you could you activate Volrath, the Shapestealer making it a copy of say Avenger of Zendikar so when the Nacatl War-Pride attack trigger resolves it will look at Volrath, the Shapestealer which is now an Avenger of Zendikar making the tokens enter as copies of Avenger of Zendikar?

SpammyV on Anybody have a card that …

5 months ago

For Commander, Volrath, the Shapestealer. The original idea was just silly. If I keep turning into a Putrid Leech I can keep pumping and get around the limitation. And then I started looking at more creatures and clone effects and realized Volrath can just be busted. Like turning into Nacatl War-Pride and then into an unblockable creature so your opponent has to block a swarm of 7/5s.

In Modern, honestly, Hard Evidence and Dwarven Mine. It turns out making a Ragavan-blocking body AND a piece of cardboard that gets targeted by Creativity or draws you a card is just... kinda good? And once you jump through the hoops of activating Mine, being able to fetch a 1/1 on demand is also just really good.

Dracoson on Questions about Volrath, the Shapestealer …

11 months ago

A couple things going on here. First is the creature type Shapeshifter. It doesn't have any inherent rules, and is just another creature type like Human or Goblin. Second is Copy abilities. Clone, outside of the battlefield, is exactly what is printed on it. So to find it by type, you have to be looking for a Shapeshifter. When it's on the battlefield, it's whatever it is copying. So if it is copying a Grizzly Bear, it's a 2/2 green bear with mana value 2. It's no longer a shapeshifter.

So now let's roll through the scenarios. Call to the Kindred would only find Clone if it was enchanting a creature that still had the Shapeshifter creature type (like Volrath, the Shapestealer before it has activated its copy ability).

Kindred Discovery will depend on what's named. If you name Shapeshifter, then Clone enters and copies a Grizzly Bear, you don't draw a card, because a shapeshifter didn't enter, a bear did.

Kindred Summons doesn't trigger, but if you name Shapeshifter, it will go off the creatures that are currently that type, so the Clone on the battlefield copying Grizzly Bear, won't count towards X.

Of note, there is a Characteristic-Defining Ability called Changeling (Changeling Outcast is an example) that does what you are talking about, and is generally on shapeshifters, so thematically they work in the deck.

ChaoticGnat on Questions about Volrath, the Shapestealer …

11 months ago

I am building a Volrath, the Shapestealer edh deck with a shapeshifter theme, and i was wandering if Call to the Kindred triggers on a Clone (or similar cards) when found in the top five cards.

and i was also wandering about Kindred Discovery and Kindred Summons do they trigger on shapeshifters?

Coward_Token on Adventures in the Forgotten Realms …

1 year ago

Sword of Hours: Sigh. Pretty good for e.g. Skullbriar, the Walking Grave . I have to say I'm not fond of this kind of randomness on decent cards and it makes me wish these two products were silver-bordered.

Ride the Avalanche: Nothing super special but I'm curious about the cool flavor; is it referencing something in D&D in particular?

Cattie-Brie: As much of a callback it is to e.g. Hankyu and Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile , I don't see the removal ability being used much except in emergencies or as a response to removal. Anyway, a cheap white+ commander that basically generates a Golem-Skin Gauntlets each turn isn't bad, tho she suffers for lack of innate evasion.

Belt of Giant Strength: Neat design that the Equip cost isn't reduced by just base power, giving it Voltron synergy

Winged Boots: compare Wings of Hubris

Robe of the Stars: Yesss, more phasing.

Mantle of the Ancients: A more focused Replenish . It's good to see that Aura voltron in particular is getting more love, I feel it's been largely overshadowed by Equipment.

Holy Avenger: See above. It's white ramp too. And yes, each double strike will trigger it, and yes, the second strike will benefit from the first Aura you cheated in.

Fey Steed: Meh. You can do better if you want indestructible voltron I think, and Shapers' Sanctuary makes it kind of insulting as an attempt at mono-white draw.

Storvald: Probably should take a peek at e.g. Octavia, Living Thesis and Volrath, the Shapestealer decklists; low-power creatures with scaling abilities like Cold-Eyed Selkie and Blighted Agent seems like the way to go. Note that he can target himself with the 7/7 ability in case you don't want to touch anything else for whatever reason.

Bucknard's Everfull Purse: See Sword of Hours, tho this is at least held back by being somewhat opponent-dependent (can't pass it back and forth either). With dice support, you could cast & activate it on the same turn and get 4 treasures for profit.

Hurl Trough Hell: Neat design but kinda overcosted as far as removal go (lol, Gilded Drake ). Correct me if I'm wrong, but since a replacement effect is involved and it doesn't explicitly say "from exile" in the second sentence, you can cast commanders from the command zone with this, right?

Fevered Suspicion: Two guaranteed opponent-only Etali, Primal Storm for eight is kinda meh tbh. I'm glad they made a reference to Beholders being paranoid maniacs tho.

Bag of Devouring: You know the drill by now.

Wild-Magic Sorcerer: Yay, more impulsive draw support! Does my tolerance of cascade over dice make me biased? Maybe.

Share the Spoils: Well. Certainly chaotic but at least it's appropriately costed, and in the right deck.

Lorcan: This is a Demon and you can't tell me otherwise! Anyway, kinda high cost for something that's kind of stuational and potentially very self-harming, but casting this followed by killing board wipe seems fun. Hope you got life gain! No commander stealing here tho. I also like the flavor of someone getting their life saved in return of servitude.

Hellish Rebuke: idk why the templating needs to give out abilities, could have just said

Whenever a permanent an opponent controls deals damage to you, its controller sacrifices it and loses 2 life.

Ability-removing shenanigans, as well as permanents that enter after this resolves, will rarely make the distinction matter. OH! And if someone takes control of the spell or copies directly onto the stack, I think you're still the one "who cast Hellish Rebuke". Also note that it doesn't just affect creatures; fuck off Impact Tremors !

Grim Hireling: I still think this is more appropriate in red; black ought to ramp tied to creature death/sacrifice/life payment/swamp-related things IMO.

Death Tyrant: Sorry legendofa but I chuckled when I read "Zombie".