Invasion of Ikoria // Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria (Invasion of Ikoria)

Battle — Siege // Legendary Creature — Dinosaur

Invasion of Ikoria // Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria

Mana value2EDHREC#1,265

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The Commander

(As a Siege enters, choose an opponent to protect it. You and others can attack it. When it's defeated, exile it, then cast it transformed.)

When this Siege enters, search your library and/or graveyard for a non-Human creature card with mana value X or less and put it onto the battlefield. If you search your library this way, shuffle.

Reach

For each non-Human creature you control, you may have that creature assign its combat damage as though it weren't blocked.

Guide

Gameplan

Cast Invasion of Ikoria for {X} {G} {G} , immediately tutoring a non-Human creature with mana value X or less from your library or graveyard straight onto the battlefield. Defeat the Siege (you or opponents chip away its defense) to flip it into Zilortha, who then lets your whole non-Human board assign combat damage as though unblocked—turning ramp into lethal stompy attacks.

Strengths

A two-card-in-one toolbox: cheats a creature into play AND becomes a powerful attacker.
Zilortha makes blocking nearly pointless against your non-Human army, granting pseudo-trample/unblockable damage.
Mono-green gives access to the best ramp in the format, letting you cast Invasion for a huge X quickly.
Can fetch from library OR graveyard, supporting both tutor-and-cheat and reanimator lines.

Weaknesses

Front face is a Battle, so it can sit defeated/undefeated awkwardly and may flip on an opponent's terms.
Humans gain nothing from Zilortha, narrowing your creature pool.
Mono-green struggles with hard interaction, counterspells, and recurring board wipes.
Casting it for a meaningful X requires real mana investment, leaving you tapped out.
Both halves rely on the creature you fetch surviving removal.

Key Cards

Craterhoof Behemoth — A non-Human payoff you can tutor with Invasion; combined with Zilortha's evasion it ends games instantly.
Cultivate — Cheap ramp that fixes and accelerates toward a giant X on Invasion.
Nyxbloom Ancient — Triples your mana so a single big X tutors and cheats out anything you want.
Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger — A bomb non-Human creature that snowballs your mana and slows opponents, perfect to fetch.
Worldspine Wurm — Fetched and cheated into play, it hits absurdly hard once Zilortha grants unblockable damage.
Heroic Intervention — Protects your fetched threat and Zilortha from spot removal and wraths for one mana.

Upgrade Path

Add fast mana (Sol Ring, Mana Crystal, Carpet of Flowers) and mana doublers so you can cast Invasion for a large X early and chain tutors. Prioritize the most impactful non-Human creatures to fetch—Craterhoof, Vorinclex, Eldrazi titans—plus protection like Heroic Intervention and Tyvar's Stand. Lean into recursion (Eternal Witness, Regrowth) and graveyard-fill so the graveyard tutor mode is live, and round out with green's best card draw to refuel after big turns.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸Alpha strike with Zilortha granting your non-Human board unblockable combat damage.
▸Craterhoof Behemoth or other overrun effects for a one-shot kill.
▸Tutoring and cheating out a single oversized threat that closes games over a couple of swings.
▸Assembling a non-Human creature combo for infinite mana or tokens.

Archetypes

Big-Creature Stompy — Tutors a fatty into play and Zilortha pushes its damage through any defense.
Toolbox/Tutor — Invasion finds the exact non-Human creature you need for the situation each game.
Reanimator — You can fetch a non-Human creature directly from your graveyard, rewarding self-mill and discard.
Combo — Search up non-Human combo pieces like Eldrazi or value engines to assemble loops.