One of the most appealing factors about the Commander format is that there’s such a huge pool of cards to build from. While this can make the process of narrowing down your final decklist a bit intimidating, it also helps keeps the gameplay fresh and interesting.
With such a vast card pool for players to utilize, you can even sometimes surprise your friends by jamming a card they’ve never seen before. There are plenty of old, underplayed designs that still threaten to take over games, like Spellbinder, which offers a litany of infinite combos.
MTG Spellbinder
At first glance, Spellbinder may look a little too flimsy to be worth running in Commander, due to its setup cost. Fortunately, Spellbinder’s upside is through the roof, and there are numerous ways to take advantage of what the equipment brings to the table.
To get things started, you’ll want to make sure there are some impactful instants in your deck worth copying. Cards like Jeskai Revalation and Magma Opus are perfect examples of powerhouses that immediately pay you back just for connecting in combat a single time.
From there, your best bet is to feature some evasive threats to equip Spellbinder to. Invisible Stalker is among the strongest options, since you don’t run the risk of getting blown out by removal after spending mana to equip. Voltron-themed Commanders like Captain America, First Avenger and Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale also pair nicely with Spellbinder, since they let you bypass Spellbinder’s hefty equip cost.
While it can take some time to get going on its own, it doesn’t take much to speed up the value-generating process. Any effects that grant your equipped creature Double Strike, like Jin Sakai, Ghost of Tsushima, enable multiple triggers per combat. Similarly, cards that grant extra combat steps help Spellbinder start to pop off, especially when combined with a trigger-doubler such as Felix Five-Boots.
Importantly, because Spellbinder specifically lets you cast whatever instant you copy for free, you can also maximize cast triggers. Besides making Storm payoffs like Hunting Pack worthy Imprint sources, this also opens the door for some filthy synergies with Storm, Force of Nature. So long as you order your triggers correctly, you can give any spell Storm this way, before copying it for massive value.
Exciting Combo Wins
As powerful as Spellbinder is when it copies huge haymakers, it’s even stronger when it’s used to set up infinite combos. Of all the two-card combos available, the simplest and easiest to set up requires Imprinting Nexus of Fate onto Spellbinder. Once equipped to an evasive creature, you’ll easily have infinite turns, making winning trivial.
Even without infinite turns, unlimited combat steps should also do the trick. With this in mind, if you manage to Imprint Savage Beating, you should have no issue dealing infinite damage with your equipped creature. Notably, Geist Train Heist can fulfill the same role as Savage Beating, as can the combination of Turnabout and Aggravated Assault.
While these are your best immediate avenues to victory, combining Spellbinder and Teferi’s Protection is another unique combo that can protect you until you assemble a game-winning plan. As long as you can dodge losing to an alternate win condition, being able to Phase Out your permanents and prevent your life total from changing should put you in a commanding position.
Extremely Underrated
As a whole, Spelbinder perfectly blends Equipment and Spellslinger themes together. Even if this three-mana artifact takes some effort to maximize, the reward you gain for getting your engine rolling makes the equipment a strong inclusion in a bunch of Commander strategies. Despite this, though, Spellbinder still appears in fewer than 4,000 decks according to EDHREC.
Fortunately, this card’s lack of demand has helped keep the equipment’s price tag at an affordable range. Given that Spellbinder has never had a reprint since it debuted in Darksteel in 2004, the card’s $5 price tag is very reasonable. So, if you’ve been wanting to show your friends some sweet, unfamiliar combos without breaking the bank, Spellbinder delivers.
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