Legendary Creature — Insect Druid

Szarel, Genesis Shepherd

Mana value5EDHREC#4,482

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The Commander

Flying

You may play lands from your graveyard.

Whenever you sacrifice another nontoken permanent during your turn, put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to Szarel's power on up to one other target creature.

Guide

Gameplan

Szarel turns sacrifice value into a snowballing +1/+1 counter engine: every nontoken permanent you sac on your turn dumps Szarel's power worth of counters onto a creature, growing a threat fast. You ramp and grind with lands replayed from the graveyard while a Jund sacrifice shell feeds the trigger, then convert the giant creature into a kill via trample, evasion, or a fling. Early turns set up fodder and sac outlets; mid-game you pump and beat down or assemble a one-shot.

Strengths

Built-in flying and an inherent payoff means you don't need extra Voltron support
Graveyard land recursion gives steady ramp and immunity to land destruction
Jund colors offer the deepest sacrifice, recursion, and tutor package in the format
Counters scale with Szarel's power, so any pump makes every sac far more explosive
Resilient grind plan that recurs fodder and turns removal into value

Weaknesses

The pump trigger funnels into one creature, so targeted removal or a board wipe sets you way back
Needs a free or repeatable sacrifice outlet plus fodder to function each turn
Counters only land during your turn, limiting flexibility on opponents' turns
Three-color, sacrifice-reliant builds can stumble if the engine pieces don't show up
Doubles down on a single threat, making it vulnerable to fogs and edicts that hit your big creature

Key Cards

Ashnod's Altar — Free repeatable sac outlet that ramps and fires Szarel's trigger every turn.
Phyrexian Altar — No-cost sacrifice outlet that fixes mana while triggering the counter payoff.
Fling — Turns a counter-loaded creature into a lethal burst that dodges combat tricks.
The Gitrog Monster — Sacrifices lands for cards while Szarel replays them from the graveyard, looping value.
Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest — Stacks with Szarel so each sacrifice anthems your whole board, not just one creature.
Crucible of Worlds — Reinforces the land-from-graveyard plan and enables repeated land sacrifices.
Skullclamp — Converts sacrificed creatures into a relentless stream of cards to fuel the engine.
Goblin Bombardment — A free sac outlet that doubles as reach, flinging counters into damage on demand.

Upgrade Path

Prioritize free sac outlets (Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, Goblin Bombardment) so you can trigger Szarel multiple times per turn, then add reliable fodder generators like Bitterblossom, Pawn of Ulamog, and token makers. Layer in haste enablers and protection (Lightning Greaves, Heroic Intervention) plus reach finishers (Fling, Soul's Fire) to close before removal answers your one threat. Top-end tutors (Demonic Tutor, Worldly Tutor) and a Gitrog/Crucible land package push consistency and grind toward cEDH-adjacent power.

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

▸Beat down with an oversized flying or trampling counter-loaded creature
▸Fling or Soul's Fire the pumped creature for one-shot damage
▸Aristocrats drain via Blood Artist effects fueled by repeated sacrifices
▸Go wide with Mazirek-style anthems turning every sac into board-wide growth

Archetypes

Aristocrats — Repeated sacrifices both grow Szarel's target and trigger drain effects across the board.
+1/+1 Counters — The trigger natively pours power-scaled counters, pairing with proliferate and counter payoffs.
Lands — Playing lands from the graveyard supports a sac-lands-for-value loop with Gitrog and Crucible.
Voltron — Counters concentrate on one creature, making a fast evasive or trampling beater.