(Zareth San, the Trickster| Art by Zack Stella)

Introduction

Today on Under the Radar, we'll be looking at Zareth San, the Trickster. This Merfolk likes loot, but isn't a Merfolk Looter. Currently (as of 10/19/2024), he only has 162 decks built around him. Zareth San is an amphibious thief who wants you to mill your opponents until their graveyards are populated with a plethora of powerful permanents for him to plunder. Without further ado, let's get to reviewing this Rogue...

A Rogue's Gallery

The Rogue creature type and mill decks (decks that dump cards from your opponent's library into the graveyard until they have no cards left) have both been a part of Magic: the Gathering for years. For a long time, these two concepts existed completely separately and didn't intersect at all. All of that changed with the release of Zendikar Rising in September 2020. The Rogues printed in Zendikar Rising put a new aggressive spin on mill strategies.

Some of Zendikar Rising's Rogues like Nimana Skydancer and Zulaport Duelist make your opponent mill cards, while others like Blackbloom Rogue and Soaring Thought-Thief become more powerful and unlock new abilities when an opponent has eight or more cards in their graveyard. This creates a unique new approach where the reason to mill your opponent is not to empty their deck completely, but rather to get enough cards into their graveyard that the abilities of all of your Rogues can activate, powering them up and enabling you to win through combat damage.

It's clear that Zareth San, the Trickster, a legendary Rogue printed in Zendikar Rising, was designed to support this aggressive milling strategy. Zareth San can put permanents from an opponent's graveyard into play under your control whenever he deals combat damage to that opponent. This synergizes perfectly with the other Rogues from the set who mill cards into the graveyard for Zareth San to steal. Zareth San also possesses the ability to tag an unblocked attacking Rogue out for himself when they would deal combat damage. He swaps himself into play from your hand, effectively possessing the Ninjutsu keyword.

For all of the exciting new things that he brings to the table, Zareth San has always been an unpopular commander. Let's talk about why.

Zareth San the Nowhere Man

As I've mentioned, Zareth San, the Trickster currently (as of 10/19/2024) commands only 162 decks. There are two primary reasons for that...

1. Anowon, the Ruin Thief completely stole Zareth San's thunder. A Rogue typal precon called Sneak Attack was released alongside Zendikar Rising. This precon was built around the new roguish spin on milling that the set introduced, but it did not feature Zareth San at all. Anowon, the Ruin Thief serves as the commander for the deck, and has become incredibly popular, he currently leads 6791 decks. This shows that there is demand to play around with Rogue typal, but that people just find Anowon more appealing than Zareth San.

2. The ninjutsu-like ability printed on Zareth San, the Trickster only works to bring him into play from his controller's hand, and not from the Command Zone. The designers at Wizards of the Coast are, probably rightly, a bit cautious about letting commanders emerge from the Command Zone for alternative costs considering how infamously powerful Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow is. This hurts Zareth San, the Trickster a lot considering that it's very hard, and often very pointless, to get your commander into your hand. This paragraph of rules text is effectively blank, in almost all instances, while Zareth San is your commander.

Clearly, the community has forgotten Zareth San, the Trickster due to him being printed alongside a more practical counterpart. Here in Under the Radar though, we leave no one behind. Now let's shine a light into the murky depths to get a good look at this forgotten merman.

Zareth San's Average Deck

Zareth San is currently the least popular commander from Zendikar Rising. Plugging all 162 of these decks into EDHREC's average deck feature , which smushes them all together and produces a single list drawn from cards that are frequently included in all of these decks, gives us this...

We can see here that the deck is going for the aggressive mill strategy described above, where the opponents' graveyards are loaded up with powerful cards, that you can then use as a resource. Cards like Cut Your Losses, Court of Cunning, and Fractured Sanity mill the opponents at an incredible speed. Then cards like Consuming Aberration, Arcane Heist, and Zareth San himself take advantage of the fact that your opponents have graveyards loaded up with plenty of cards in order to enable their effects.

Currently, Archidekt states that this deck has an estimated cost of $168.99, which makes it the cheapest deck featured on Under the Radar so far. Even so, there are still cuts that can be made to bring the price down. As a shock land, Watery Grave has an estimated cost between $15 and $20, swapping it out for a basic Island or Swamp saves quite a bit of cash. Mindcrank is the only other card in here with a price above $10 and while it's a very powerful mill effect, it's also a very understandable card to cut. Breach the Multiverse, Psychic Corrosion, Maddening Cacophony and Court of Cunning are also all in the $5-$10 range. Cutting all of these cards would gut lots of the most powerful mill options that the deck has access to though, so it's probably worth keeping a few of them around. Finally, Patchwork Banner is a typal payoff that costs about $5, this one makes a more easy cut as it won't interfere with your ability to keep your mill engine running.

Now that we've dissected the deck let's talk about the cards to keep, the cards to cut and some new cards to add...

5 Cards To Keep

Anowon, the Ruin Thief

Currently in 65% of decks.

While Anowon, the Ruin Thief may have stolen Zareth San's time in the spotlight, what's a bit of stealing amongst Rogue pals? Anowon not only acts as a lord, buffing up Zareth San and all of the other Rogues in your deck by +1/+1 each, but he also helps you dump a bunch of cards into your opponents' graveyards through his second effect. Anowon provides plenty of permanents for Zareth San to steal, and he even lets you draw cards while you do so. Anowon will help you Ano-win.

Alora, Merry Thief

Currently in 29% of decks.

Alora, Merry Thief synergizes so perfectly with Zareth San, the Trickster it's almost suspicious. Zareth San wants to hit your opponents without being blocked and to somehow get into your hand ready to be snuck out again via his not ninjutsu-ninjutsu ability. Alora, Merry Thief enables both of Zareth San's desires. This just goes to show that while Alora may be from Faerûn and Zareth San may be from Zendikar, a true criminal partnership transcends planes.

Notorious Throng

Currently in 29% of decks.

There's nothing wrong with Notorious Throng in fact, quite the opposite, the card is very powerful. For four mana this card grants you X 1/1 flying Faerie Rogue tokens where X is the amount of damage each of your opponents has taken this turn. That means you only have to hit your opponent with your commander to get four of these tokens for the four mana you'll be paying. Given that this deck runs buffing cards like Patchwork Banner and Anowon, the Ruin Thief the tokens may even come down with pretty pumped-up stats.

What really makes this card great though is that by casting it for its Prowl cost (an alternative cost of that can only be paid if you have damaged your opponents with a Rogue this turn) then not only do you get a bunch of flying Faeries, but you also get to take an extra turn. I'm sure I don't need to detail why extra turn spells are amazing, and Notorious Throng is an extra turn spell that also throws in an army of Faeries as a bonus.

Aqueous Form

Currently in 43% of decks.

Aqueous Form is honestly a great blue one-drop, particularly in decks like this which can take full advantage of its effect. Zareth San, the Trickster needs to hit your opponents in their faces over and over again without getting blocked, and there is no cheaper or more efficient way of enabling that than to use Aqueous Form to turn Zareth San into an unblockable watery menace.

Windfall

Currently in 25% of decks.

Card draw is always great, but when your commander has blue in its color identity you're spoiled for choice as far as draw spells go. There are all kinds of options out there from Brainstorm to Rhystic Study. One way to help you make up your mind on which draw spells to run is to pick some that also enable your deck's game plan. Windfall is a great card advantage option for Zareth San, the Trickster. It's a wheel effect which means that it forces everyone to throw their current hand into the bin and then to draw a new one. This not only draws you a bunch of cards, but it also loads up all of your opponents' graveyards with powerful permanents for Zareth San to steal.

5 Cards To Cut

Didn't Say Please

Currently in 42% of decks.

In Commander, every single counterspell that has ever been printed is legal. You can run anything from Force of Will to Mana Drain to Fierce Guardianship. While those three cards are all quite pricy, there are still plenty of budget-friendly counterspells out there which are pretty great as well. Counterspell itself is an all-time classic, as is Arcane Denial and there are enough costly cards in the format that you'll always find something to target with a Disdainful Stroke.

With all of these great, cheap, options out there a counterspell has got to be pretty great to get away with costing . Didn't Say Please doesn't do enough to make itself worth its cost; it's a bad mill card stapled to a bad counterspell. Didn't Say Please only mills three cards, compare that to something like Maddening Cacophony which, in a four-player game, mills a total of 24 cards for one less mana. Don't say please, say no thank you.

Teferi's Tutelage

Currently in 31% of decks.

Speaking of inefficient mill cards, Teferi's Tutelage is just a little bit too slow compared to some of the other mill options out there. While this can be great after you've just used a wheel effect like Windfall the fact that it only targets one opponent holds it back massively. In a multiplayer game, Psychic Corrosion is a significantly better card, and Ruin Crab will also often end up dumping many more cards into your opponents' graveyards over time. Teferi is an awesome planeswalker, but if this card is any indication, he's a pretty crummy tutor.

Soul Manipulation

Currently in 22% of decks.

Soul Manipulation is a very strange card that is likely only here because it was in the Zendikar Rising Rogue precon. To reiterate three mana counter spells have to offer you something pretty great in order to make them worth running especially if, like this card, they can only counter creature spells. Having a Disentomb attached to your costly counterspell does not do enough to redeem it, just like milling three cards doesn't do enough to make Didn't Say Please worth playing. Soul Manipulation doesn't even really synergize with this deck's strategy since you want to fill up your opponents' graveyard and not your own.

Extract from Darkness

Currently in 36% of decks.

The problem with Extract from Darkness is that it comes up short when compared to Zareth San, the Trickster. For the same mana cost, Zareth San, the Trickster provides a 4/4 and the ability to recurringly reanimate your opponents' creatures again and again, rather than merely once as a one-off sorcery speed effect. Cards like Arcane Heist and Memory Plunder are similarly costly, but they can target cards that Zareth San is unable to steal himself. There are lots of options out there for stealing stuff from other players' graveyards, Extract from Darkness is pretty underwhelming when compared to the alternatives.

Sure-Footed Infiltrator

Currently in 36% of decks.

If I were to describe Sure-Footed Infiltrator with one word, that word would be "clunky". You're not getting a great rate by paying four mana for a 2/3. Even though this card can become unblockable by tapping a Rogue down, that's a pretty awkward price to have to pay. Having an effect that draws you a card whenever an opponent takes damage is certainly handy, but this deck already has plenty of cards that fill that niche. For the same mana value, Anowon, the Ruin Thief and Reconnaissance Mission both offer the ability to draw multiple cards, and Shoreline Looter is two mana cheaper and is unblockable by default. More to the point, both blue and black are spoiled for choice when it comes to card draw and have many far stronger alternatives out there. Don't let this card infiltrate your deck.

5 Cards to Add

Tormod's Crypt

Currently in <1% of decks

At first glance, Tormod's Crypt might seem like a total nonbo and a card that you would never want to run in a deck like this. After all, you need to load up your opponents' graveyards to get as many permanents in there as possible to steal with Zareth San's effect. Here's the issue though, some of the other players in your pod may be running graveyard-focused decks and all of the milling that you do will just be giving them more and more resources to draw from.

If you're up against Muldrotha, the Gravetide, or Karador, Ghost Chieftain it's important to have a release valve ready to stop their power from overflowing as their graveyards grow. You will still have three other players around the table to steal cards from and, if there is a particularly powerful card that you just have to take from a graveyard-focused player, then you can just activate Tormod's Crypt right after you've stolen that permanent from them. Graveyard hate is an often forgotten but very important part of any good commander deck, especially if you're filling the opponents' graveyards up as quickly as this deck does.

Agent of Treachery

Currently in 15% of decks

While Zareth San, the Trickster may be able to steal your opponents' creatures from their graveyards, Agent of Treachery takes this idea one step further and takes control of their stuff directly from the battlefield. Not only is Agent of Treachery's ability to steal your opponents' creatures incredibly powerful, but the card also synergizes with this deck in several meaningful ways...

First of all, Agent of Treachery is a Rogue so it benefits from all the Rogue typal elements this deck contains. Secondly, this card allows you to draw three cards during your end step if you control three or more permanents owned by other players. This is a payoff that's surprisingly easy to reach if you've had Zareth San, the Trickster around for a few turns. Finally, cards like Alora, Merry Thief and Kaito, Dancing Shadow which bounce your own cards back to your hand, allow the Agent to enter and leave play, stealing an additional creatures every time.

Syr Konrad, the Grim

Currently in 15% of decks

While Syr Konrad, the Grim isn't a Rogue, any deck that dumps large numbers of cards into the graveyard benefits massively from running him. Syr Konrad, the Grim pings every opponent for one damage whenever a creature dies, whenever a creature leaves your graveyard, and (most importantly for this deck's purposes) whenever a creature hits the graveyard from any other zone. This means that all of the milling that you'll be doing with cards like Psychic Corrosion and Maddening Cacophony will also be dealing a pretty tremendous amount of damage.

The card Mindcrank, which is already in this deck, has absolutely diabolical synergy with Konrad. Konrad causes them to take damage whenever they mill a creature and Mindcrank causes your opponents to mill a card whenever they take damage. This can lead to a painful loop, where your opponents take damage, forcing them to mill cards, causing them to take more damage if they mill a creature, forcing them to continue milling, and so on and so forth.

Scytheclaw

Currently in <1% of decks

Scytheclaw is a card from the Sneak Attack precon which didn't survive the transition to this deck, even though it slots in perfectly. This deck features lots of unblockable creatures like Slither Blade, Triton Shorestalker, and Changeling Outcast. These cards work nicely with effects like Reconnaissance Mission to help you draw cards and Anowon, the Ruin Thief to force your opponents to mill. If you hand one of these small Rogues a Scytheclaw though, their utility increases massively. The damage they deal goes from being almost inconsequential to absolutely game-changing. Scytheclaw can help your Rogues claw their way to victory.

Glasspool Mimic

Currently in 24% of decks.

The modal double-faced land cards from Zendikar Rising are really powerful. Most of them offer common effects but with the added upside of also being a tapland if you need the mana. Glasspool Mimic is a Clone spell that can also serve as an Island. While Glasspool Mimic can only target a creature you control, given that this deck is all about stealing powerful stuff from your opponents' graveyards, you should have no shortage of meaningful creatures to copy with it. Glasspool Mimic being a copy that is also a Rogue is just a bit of extra upside that rewards it nicely in a deck like this.

Conclusion

Zareth San, the Trickster is just as worthy as Anowon, the Ruin Thief to be at the head of a pack of Rogues. The Rogue typal decks that he incentivizes combine mill and a focus on pushing through combat damage in a way that is really interesting. For players willing to give Zareth San a chance, they will discover a pretty neat commander with the ability to steal their opponents' best cards right out of their graveyards. The card is certainly a thematic home run, considering that he's a Rogue who steals your opponent's stuff, and he can be decently powerful as well. Just beware of opponents seeking to use their own graveyard as a resource, before you have a chance to snatch their best stuff away from them.

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