Thanks to the rise of Universes Beyond sets, the sheer volume of legendary creatures getting printed has increased dramatically. While Universes Beyond sets are still controversial to this day, there’s no denying that this surplus of legends has made Commander more diverse than ever. Naturally, with so many to choose from nowadays, it’s hard for every Universes Beyond Commander to earn its time in the spotlight.
Thanks to this, even a unique option like Magnus the Red remains underutilized compared to how powerful it is. Offering a neat blend of traditional Commander themes, this card is a potent build-around that deserves more recognition.
MTG Magnus the Red
The main goal with Magnus the Red at the helm is to flood the board with creature tokens to reduce the cost of all of your instants and sorceries. Thankfully, like many Commanders in modern MTG, Magnus the Red is a self-contained value engine, setting up its own payoff. Between their natural evasion and the Blade of the Magnus ability, it’s easy to get tokens on the board. Combine this with trigger-doubling effects like Roaming Throne, and you’ll have no problem pumping tokens out.
To further bolster this game plan, you’re heavily incentivized to incorporate a high density of other token makers. Threats like Third Path Iconoclast, Murmuring Mystic, and Ovika, Enigma Goliath all pay you off for casting your wealth of instants and sorceries. It doesn’t take long before you can cast more expensive token producers like Access Denied at a nice discount.
From there, you’ll want to incorporate plenty of game-breaking spells that can blow the game wide open. Being able to cast haymakers like Expropriate and Time Stretch for the low price of just two mana is a huge boon.
Spells with X in their mana cost play particularly well with Magnus the Red since they have no upper limit. Tempt with Vengeance, Goblin Offensive, Song of Totentanz, and similar flexible token makers become exponentially more threatening as games progress. Eventually, you’ll be able to use Comet Storm or Jaya’s Immolating Inferno to burn your opponents out in one go!
Infinite Combos
In addition to enabling classic Fireball-style kills, Magnus the Red also creates numerous combos with cards featuring the Buyback mechanic. The coolest combo of the bunch definitely centers around Reiterate and Ashling’s Command. All you need to get things started is Magnus in play, alongside four creature tokens.
Once set up, you’re free to cast Ashling’s Command, choosing the fourth mode as one of the options. Then, by holding priority, you’ll want to cast Reiterate with Buyback, copying Ashling’s Command. Now, you can let the copy resolve with the original still on the stack, netting you two Treasures.
These Treasures conveniently let you recast Reiterate with Buyback in conjunction with Magnus the Red’s discount, and you can repeat this process as many times as you wish. Depending on what second mode you chose for Ashling’s Command, you’ll either make infinite token copies of an Elemental, kill all opposing creatures, or draw your whole deck in the exchange. You can even force your opponents to draw their whole decks, though this can be risky if someone draws into a counterspell.
Alternatively, you can also execute infinite damage combos with Urabrask, Haze of Rage, Magnus the Red, and three creature tokens in play. Simply start by casting Haze of Rage with Buyback, triggering Urabrask in the process. The red mana Urabrask provides sets you up nicely to recast Haze of Rage over and over until your opponents take lethal damage. This combo is quite powerful and consistent, especially considering that other mono-red Buyback spells like Searing Touch and Seething Anger can fulfill the same duties as Haze of Rage.
An Underrated Powerhouse
Despite Magnus the Red’s ability to completely take over games, the Demon legend remains quite underplayed. Appearing as the Commander in less than 5,000 decks according to EDHREC, Magnus is worthy of more attention. After all, Tokens and Spellslinger are two of the most popular Commander archetypes out there, and Magnus the Red provides the best of both worlds.
Nonetheless, it isn’t too shocking that a card only printed in the MTG Warhammer 40K crossover has fallen under the radar a bit. While Magnus the Red does see a bit more play in the 99 of other decks, it can still be picked up for $5, which isn’t terrible. So, if you’re looking to craft around an explosive Commander that your friends may be unfamiliar with, Magnus the Red is a solid option that hardly breaks the bank.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew!