Altered Ego card art

Altered Ego

Creature — Shapeshifter MV 4

Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.

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What it doesCombosRulingsIn the 99Every version

What it does

This spell can't be countered.

You may have this creature enter as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except it enters with X additional +1/+1 counters on it.

Combos with Altered Ego

The lines this card is part of, what it needs alongside it, and what the cards do together. An infinite result is the one that moves a deck's bracket.

Showing the 8 shortest and most explosive. This card appears in more than these. Follow any of them through to Commander Spellbook to browse the rest.

Combo data from Commander Spellbook, the community-maintained database of Magic combos. Mirrored nightly.

Rulings

9 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.

  • 2025-01-24

    Any "enters" abilities of the copied creature will trigger when Altered Ego enters the battlefield. Any "as [this creature] enters" or "[this creature] enters with" abilities of the chosen creature will also work.

  • 2025-01-24

    If the chosen creature has X in its mana cost, that X is considered to be 0. The value of X in Altered Ego's last ability will be whatever value was chosen for X while casting Altered Ego.

  • 2025-01-24

    X can be 0. Altered Ego won't enter with any additional +1/+1 counters, and it will just be a copy of the chosen creature.

  • 2025-01-24

    You can choose not to copy anything. In that case, Altered Ego enters as a 0/0 creature and is probably put into the graveyard immediately. It won't have +1/+1 counters placed on it by its ability.

  • 2025-01-24

    If Altered Ego somehow enters at the same time as another creature, Altered Ego can't become a copy of that creature. You may choose only a creature that's already on the battlefield.

  • 2025-01-24

    If the chosen creature is a token, Altered Ego copies the original characteristics of that token as stated by the effect that created that token. Altered Ego isn't a token.

  • 2025-01-24

    Altered Ego copies exactly what was printed on the original creature (unless that creature is copying something else or is a token; see below). It doesn't copy whether that creature is tapped or untapped, whether it has any counters on it or any Auras and Equipment attached to it, or any non-copy effects that have changed its power, toughness, types, color, or so on.

  • 2025-01-24

    If you copy a double-faced creature, Altered Ego will be a copy of the face that's up when Altered Ego enters. Because Altered Ego is not a double-faced card, it won't be able to transform. If an effect instructs you to return it to the battlefield transformed when it leaves the battlefield, it won't return and will remain in its new zone.

  • 2025-01-24

    If the chosen creature is copying something else (for example, if the chosen creature is another Altered Ego), then your Altered Ego enters as whatever the chosen creature copied.

Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.

In the 99

Every deck whose current list includes Altered Ego, whatever its commander.

Decks running it 7
Games played 0
Win rate — Fewer than 5 completed games, which is not enough to publish a rate yet.
Confirmed on board 0 Games where a board photo caught it actually in play.

Most played under

Commander Decks Games Win rate
Tidus, Yuna's Guardian 2 0 —
Zimone, Infinite Analyst 2 0 —
Me, the Immortal 1 0 —
Zaxara, the Exemplary 1 0 —

Colors it shows up in

  • Simic 2 decks
  • Bant 2 decks
  • Sultai 1 deck
  • Temur 1 deck

Every version of Altered Ego

5 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly. A printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall publishes none for some of them.

Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Altered Ego. It runs a name search across every version, which covers the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.

Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only. No individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.