Summary
‘Spellslinger’ is a bit of a misleading term for newMagic: The Gatheringplayers. See, a spell in Magic refers to anything that’s being cast, whether it’s a creature, an enchantment, a planeswalker, and so on. All cards are spellswhen they’re on the stack, but Magic slang also reserves the word ‘spell’ for instants and sorceries specifically.
When players talk about a ‘spellslinger’ commander, they’re usually referring to a legendary creature that gives you a payoff for casting instants and sorceries, or sometimes noncreature spells in general. It’s a commonly supported archetype,usually in blue/red, with tons of overlaps between the many spellslinger commanders available in the format.
10Codie, Vociferous Codex
Codie’s the perfect spellslinger commander for anyone who can’t decide on what colors to play. Everything’s available with Codie at the podium, thanks to its activated abilitygranting all five colorsfor color identity purposes. It’s not all upside though, since Codie locks you out of casting permanent spells.
You can run a casual Codie deck, or a competitive one looking to chain together a very specific set of spells. Either way, you have free rein over the spells you include in your deck, and each spell you cast with Codie’s mana will spot you another one for free.
Codie has a mana ability, which can’t be countered and doesn’t use the stack. When you activate it, you’ll produce the mana right away with no window for players to interact.
9Kykar, Wind’s Fury
A Spellslinger In Name And Spirit
Kykar looks likea RoboRosewater creation, but we assure you it’s real. It has one of the classic spellslinger payoffs: turning spells you cast into a pile of creatures tokens. You can find similar abilities on tons of cards, from Young Pyromancer and Talrand, Sky Summoner to Deekah, Fractal Theorist and Poppet Stitcher.
The Spirits Kykar creates are more than just bodies on board though. You can sacrifice them to produce mana, which fuels further spellslinging andworks up a storm count. Add in other damage-dealing spellslinger payoffs and you mightclose out a game in a single turn.
8Anhelo, The Painter
Paint With All The Colors Of Grixis
Anhelo blends the usual spellslinger strategy with an archetype you don’t commonly see in blue decks: sacrifice. Anhelo is part spellslinger,part aristocrat, and as long as you can provide enough casualty fodder, you’ll be handsomely rewarded with copies of your instants and sorceries.
Anhelo’s ability is only as useful as the expendable bodies you have on board. To make the most of casualty, you’ll want to fill your deck with creatures that reward you when they die, like Sinister Concierge, or tokens you have no attachment to, like decayed Zombie tokens.
7Ral, Monsoon Mage / Ral, Leyline Prodigy
A Tame, But Consistent Commander
The transforming Ral Zarek from Modern Horizons 3 is a spellslinger enabler that you can slot into the command zone. The cost reduction that Ral, Monsoon Mage provides is something that all spellslinger decks desire, which facilitates a smooth, consistent early-game plan.
The rest of the card leaves some room for improvement. In fact, the front side will occasionally deal damage to you when you lose coin flips,and the back halfisn’t particularly powerful either. You’re leaning really hard into the cost reduction, but that’s a strong enough incentive to considerthis 2-mana legendas your commander.
6Zethi, Arcane Blademaster
You’ll Get A Kick Out Of This One
Zethi is the in-universe version of Chun-Li, Countless Kicks fromthe Street Fighter Secret Lair crossover. Though the multikicker joke is lost on the Magic version of the card, the explosive potential’s still intact whether you prefer Zethi or Chun-Li.
Notably, Zethi only works with instants, so no need to balance the number of sorceries you play in the deck. Just load up on cheap instants, get as many in the graveyard as you can, then ensure Zethi lives long enough to get an attack in. One attack is usually enough to pull way ahead in a game.
Zethi and Chun-Li are treated as the same card, so you can only have one copy between the two in a Commander deck.
5Veyran, Voice Of Duality
Makes All Your Spells Payoffs Twice As Good
Veyran’s what players like to call a ‘Panharmonicon’ for spell triggers–that is, it doubles your triggers from casting instants and sorceries. That applies to its own magecraft ability,as well as prowessand magecraft abilities on all of your other creatures.
Veyran can take a player from 40 life to dead in a single combat. That means casting quite a few spells, which is usually easier than it sounds with the help of cost reducersand Treasure-makers. Storm-Kiln Artist is a key card here, double-triggering with Veyran in play, and giving you the mana to continue casting spells.
4Stella Lee, Wild Card
All Upside, No Hassle
Stella Lee caught on like wildfire when it was announced forOutlaws of Thunder Junction Commander, and players instantly saw the competitive potential in this rootin' tootin' spellslinger. A reward for casting a bunch of spells, something you already want to be doing anyway? Yes please!
There’s a pleasant symphony between the first ability, which can draw you an extra card each turn,and the activated ability, which requires that you’ve cast at least three spells that turn. It’s all free card advantage, provided you’ve filled your deck out with cheap instants and sorceries.
Stella Lee’s also available on Magic Arena in the Brawl format, where this Wild Card will unironically cost you one mythic rare wildcard.
3Krark, The Thumbless
Roger Ebert Gives It Two Nubs Up
Apparently it doesn’t take thumbs to cast spells in Magic. Krark proves that by being one of the most powerful spellslinger commanders out there. A lot of its power comes from partner, which allows you to pair it with another legend and broaden your deck’s color identity and strategy.
The goal with Krark is to weaponizeeither result of its coin flips. Sometimes you’ll just copy your spells for free, which is obviously incredible value. But even when you ‘lose’ the coin flip, you’re still probably triggering enough spell payoffs to make it worth just re-casting that same spell.
2Tor Wauki The Younger
Rakdos’s Premier Spell-Based Commander
The reimagined versionof Tor Wauki brings spellslinging tothe red-black color pair, a guild where you don’t often see this archetype. It’s essentially an expensive, amplified version of Guttersnipe, one of the quintessential spellslinger payoffs in Commander.
Tor Wauki modulates damage from all your noncombat sources, which includes its own triggered ability. That means you’re slinging around three damage wherever you please on any instant or sorcery you cast. Lifelink means you’ll be gaining all that damage in life too, so it’s difficult to keep pace with the Tor Wauki player’s life total.
1Niv-Mizzet, Parun
Dragons Are Red, Wizards Are Blue…
The color restriction on Niv-Mizzet’s mana cost basically exists to ensure players can’t easily splash this Dragon Wizard in Constructed and Limited, but you’re already locked to blue and red in Commander, so it’s not too hard to get on board.
Once Niv-Mizzet is on board, it wreaks absolute havoc. Every card you draw is worth a damage, aimed wherever you please, and every spell cast is worth a card, regardless of who cast it. Even simple cantrips are now worth two damage with Niv on board, and it scales up with how much card draw you can muster.
