Exemplar of Light
Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.
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What it does
Flying
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Whenever you put one or more +1/+1 counters on this creature, draw a card. This ability triggers only once each turn.
Combos with Exemplar of Light
Lines this card is part of — what it needs alongside it, and what the two of them do. An infinite result is the one that moves a deck's bracket.
- Agatha's Soul Cauldron Walking Ballista Infinite
- Infinite damage
- Infinite lifegain triggers
- Infinite lifegain
Combo data from Commander Spellbook, the community-maintained database of Magic combos. Mirrored nightly.
Rulings
6 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.
- 2024-11-08
Exemplar of Light's second ability triggers just once for each life-gaining event, whether it's 1 life from Dazzling Angel or 4 life from Apothecary Stomper.
- 2024-11-08
If Exemplar of Light is dealt lethal damage at the same time that you gain life, it won't receive a counter from its second ability in time to save it.
- 2024-11-08
Exemplar of Light's last ability triggers whenever you put one or more +1/+1 counters on it for any reason, not just as a result of its second ability.
- 2024-11-08
In a Two-Headed Giant game, life gained by your teammate won't cause Exemplar of Light's second ability to trigger, even though it caused your team's life total to increase.
- 2024-11-08
If you gain an amount of life "for each" of something or "equal to the number" of something, that life is gained as one event and Exemplar of Light's second ability triggers only once.
- 2024-11-08
Each creature with lifelink dealing combat damage causes a separate life-gaining event. For example, if two creatures you control with lifelink deal combat damage at the same time, Exemplar of Light's second ability will trigger twice. However, if a single creature you control with lifelink deals combat damage to multiple creatures, players, planeswalkers, and/or battles at the same time (perhaps because it has trample or was blocked by more than one creature), the ability will trigger only once.
Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.
In the 99
Every deck whose current list includes Exemplar of Light, whatever its commander.
Most played under
| Commander | Decks | Games | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karlov of the Ghost Council | 1 | 0 | — |
| Momo, Friendly Flier | 1 | 0 | — |
| Oloro, Ageless Ascetic | 1 | 0 | — |
Colors it shows up in
- Mono-White 1 deck
- Orzhov 1 deck
- Esper 1 deck
Every version of Exemplar of Light
7 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 genuinely publishes none for some of them.

Promo
Foundations Promos
- Normal
- $22.73
- Foil
- $21.86

- Normal
- $0.75

- Normal
- $1.95
- Foil
- $2.15

Promo
Foundations Promos
- Foil
- $6.18

Inverted
- Normal
- $7.02
- Foil
- $12.37

Inverted
- Foil
- $47.47

Extended Art
- Normal
- $3.66
- Foil
- $4.27
Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Exemplar of Light — a name search across every version, for 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.