There are many Legendary Creatures that make up the pillars of staple decks in the Commander format. The Ur-Dragon, Edgar Markov, Krenko, Mob Boss, and Atraxa, Praetor's Voice are some of the most popular Commanders ever to see play.

Almost all the top Commanders nowadays have come out within the last ten years, give or take. However, there was once an old Wizard from all the way back in Coldsnap that used to terrorize many local game stores. This is none other than Zur the Enchanter.

Zur is very well known for being a tutor in the Command Zone, a way to put a card from your deck directly into play. In Zur's case, this card is specifically an Enchantment card with mana value three or less. Necropotence or the more modern Necrodominance are the go-to targets most of the time in order to create fast wins.

Let's explore a new path for this old geezer and leave Necropotence back in the Ice Age.

Zur the Enchanter's Ability

Zur the Enchanter's ability is incredibly powerful; there is no doubt about it. His built-in evasion helps make sure he can survive combat to trigger him each time it gets back to your turn. The question now becomes, what Enchantment should you grab?

Esper has been getting a lot of new toys for Reanimator. Reanimator is the strategy of filling your graveyard with massive Creatures and cheating them into play with a card like Reanimate. Some Reanimate spells aren't Instants or Sorceries but are Enchantments instead.

Animate Dead and Necromancy allow you to recur a Creature from a graveyard when they enter the battlefield. Both these powerful Enchantments can be used along with Zur to get a Creature from the graveyard right into play.

You might be scratching your head wondering how an Aura can enter play from your library and immediately attach to a Creature. Normally, Aura spells need to declare a legal target when you cast them from your hand to give an opportunity for your opponent to respond, however, Zur breaks this rule.

If you use Zur's ability to put an Aura card onto the battlefield, then you get to choose what that Aura enchants as it Enters the Battlefield. According to Wizard's of the Coast:

An Aura put onto the battlefield this way doesn't target anything (so it could be attached to an opponent's permanent with Hexproof, for example), but the Aura's Enchant ability restricts what it can be attached to. If the Aura can't legally be attached to anything, it remains in your library.

Getting around Hexproof and Ward costs can be a very powerful tool to have in your toolbelt. Zur unlocks the opportunity to play a Secret Commander inside the 99.

A Secret Commander (or Hidden Commander) is the card that your deck is actually built around, even though it isn't your official Commander. Rather than starting the game in the Command Zone, it must be pulled from your library.

In this case, the card is an Aura spell.

The Hidden Commander: Moonlit Meditation

Moonlit Meditation is a very strange Enchantment that was overlooked in the space-themed Magic set, Edge of Eternities.

Moonlit Meditation is an Aura spell for that allows you to create copies of the Enchanted Creature if you make one or more tokens. Once per turn, you may turn those tokens into copies of the Enchanted Creature instead.

In a Reanimator deck, there are lots of great targets to Enchant with Moonlit Meditation. The decklist below has a lot of Esper options that have some insane Enter the Battlefield Abilities.

Zur the Enchanter Decklist Breakdown

This version of Zur the Enchanter is not focused on getting a bunch of Enchantments into play. It is much more focused on getting huge Creatures out turns ahead of time and sending them to combat.

Moonlit Meditation can create copies of these Creatures and hope to end the game in a very splashy way.

Zur has a total of 14 Enchantment options for him to put directly into play off his Attack Trigger. Most of these fill the role of a Reanimate spell, but there are a lot of other options you can get in a pinch.

There are Enchantments that draw cards, remove threats, and even discard cards if you get stuck with a Reanimation target in your hand.

Zur's Moonlit Meditation | Commander | Nigel Kurtz

• Commander (1)
• 1 Zur the Enchanter

• Creatures (22)
• 1 Ancient Gold Dragon
• 1 Archon of Coronation
• 1 Archon of Cruelty
• 1 Brainstealer Dragon
• 1 Crabomination
• 1 Cryptbreaker
• 1 Curator of Destinies
• 1 Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1 Faerie Artisans
• 1 Forsworn Paladin
• 1 Grave Titan
• 1 Gyruda, Doom of Depths
• 1 Jacked Rabbit
• 1 Likeness Looter
• 1 Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
• 1 Obsessive Stitcher
• 1 Ophiomancer
• 1 Priest of Fell Rites
• 1 Sepulchral Primordial
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 The Master of Keys
• 1 Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator

• Instants (9)
• 1 Argivian Find
• 1 Entomb
• 1 Faithful Mending
• 1 Frantic Search
• 1 Grand Crescendo
• 1 Mystic Reflection
• 1 Officious Interrogation
• 1 Secure the Wastes
• 1 Will of the Mardu

• Sorceries (10)
• 1 Buried Alive
• 1 Careful Study
• 1 Dismantling Wave
• 1 Ideas Unbound
• 1 Persist
• 1 Reanimate
• 1 Sram's Expertise
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Unmarked Grave
• 1 Will of the Abzan

• Enchantments (14)
• 1 Airbender Ascension
• 1 Amphibian Downpour
• 1 Animate Dead
• 1 Grasp of Fate
• 1 King Narfi's Betrayal
• 1 Mirrormade
• 1 Monologue Tax
• 1 Moonlit Meditation
• 1 Necromancy
• 1 Ripples of Undeath
• 1 Scuttletide
• 1 Seal of Cleansing
• 1 Seal of Removal
• 1 Waterbender Ascension

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Collector's Vault
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Dominance
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1 Talisman of Progress

• Lands (36)
• 6 Island
• 6 Plains
• 7 Swamp
• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Arcane Sanctum
• 1 Caves of Koilos
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fetid Pools
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Grand Coliseum
• 1 Hengegate Pathway
• 1 Irrigated Farmland
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Shadowy Backstreet
• 1 Shattered Sanctum
• 1 Shipwreck Marsh
• 1 Underground River

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There has been a lot of talk about Reanimation targets so let's dive into the ones that are present here.

Reanimation Targets

Crabomination is the fairest version of Etali, Primal Conqueror. When Crabomination enters the battlefield, target opponent must Exile the top card of their library, a random card from their hand, and a random card from their graveyard. Then, you can pick a spell from these three cards and cast it without needing to pay its mana cost.

Crabomination is the perfect target for Moonlit Meditation since you get to continue casting spell after spell the more crabs that enter the battlefield.

Archon of Coronation and Archon of Cruelty are great Flying threats that will help draw you some cards. The Archon of Coronation puts in a lot of work of making sure you stay alive. Do not underestimate the power of having a free Fog by being the Monarch.

Sepulchral Primordial and Gyruda, Doom of Depths steal cards from your opponents when they enter play. Gyruda is not the most ideal target for Moonlit Meditation since it is a Legendary Creature, but its Enter the Battlefield Ability is still strong enough to make the cut.

Brainstealer Dragon also steals cards from your opponents in a slightly different way. It also can make them lose a ton of life thanks to its Drain ability and its evasive nature.

Ancient Gold Dragon and Grave Titan are the most powerful cards to Reanimate in this specific instance. Both of these powerhouses create tokens and lots of them. Moonlit Meditation can be used to Enchant one of these Creatures and the tokens that they create can be turned into copies of the Creature making the tokens.

Rolling a d20 with an Ancient Gold Dragon trigger after Enchanting it with Meditation will have all your opponents in a cold sweat. Plus, there are a lot of other ways to make tokens in this deck since Moonlit Meditation is the Secret Commander. Let's move onto those next.

Token Generators

There is a total of 17 cards included in the deck that create one or more tokens. These tokens range from Treasures and Clues to Snakes and Servos. It doesn't really matter what the tokens are since Moonlit Meditation will turn them into something much more powerful.

Treasures are the best tokens in Magic: The Gathering. These shiny tokens essentially allow you to cheat a one-time use Land into play to help bring out something into play a turn early. If you do not happen to have the Moonlit Aura in play, Treasure tokens are the most useful tokens to create.

Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff, Collector's Vault, Forsworn Paladin, and Monologue Tax are Treasure generators. All of them are incredibly low to the ground, efficient, and possibly have some flexibility to them as well.

Lotho is awesome since it triggers on every player at the table, including you. Collector's Vault can be used at Instant speed as well as help get a big Creature into the graveyard. Forsworn Paladin has a scary ability to hold up during combat since it gives a Creature Deathtouch.

Treasures are great, but we also need ways to create massive bursts of tokens at once to maximize the value out of Moonlit Meditation. Will of the Mardu, Secure the Wastes, and Sram's Expertise will spit out a small token army.

Will of the Mardu also doubles as removal and can be held up at Instant speed. Casting a large Secure the Wastes while Moonlit Meditation is Enchanted on a Gyruda could end the game on the spot.

Officious Interrogation has the perfect home in this deck. This card is very similar to Call the Coppercoats from New Capenna but allows you to create Clue tokens instead of Creature tokens.

Clue tokens can be used to help dig for some extra cards or be combined with our infamous Aura to make a massive army of whatever it is Enchanting.

Scuttletide will round out the token generators. Being able to discard cards and turn them into 0/3 Crab tokens doesn't seem all that great, especially in Commander. However, Zur allows you to fetch this Enchantment right out of your deck right when you need it most.

If you ever find yourself with a big Reanimate target in hand, find Scuttletide. If you have Moonlit Meditation Enchanting a Creature that draws you cards, find Scuttletide. If your opponent is threatening lethal and you need some blockers, find Scuttletide.

Scuttletide might be tied for one of the strongest cards in this list and it flies (or scuttles) under the radar. No one will feel threatened by this Enchantment until it is too late.

Conclusion

Zur the Enchanter has been around since 2006. Moonlit Meditation inspired this decklist and it came out in 2025. Commander is a format all about exploring the weird cards in Magic and finding a home for them. These cards were created in completely different landscapes of the game but together create a powerful synergy.