One of the major advantages of Magic’s staggering 33-year lifespan is the huge amount of in-universe lore Wizards has to work with. This manifests most often in major recurring characters and planes, but the deep cuts are arguably even more delightful.
When Maze of Ith was first introduced back in The Dark, for example, we didn’t know who, or what, Ith was. Six years later, in Time Spiral, Ith, High Arcanist rolled around to solve this running MTG mystery. While this legend is much less well-known than its namesake land, it’s still well worth checking out as a potent Azorius Commander.
Ith, High Arcanist In MTG Commander
As students of MTG history will clock immediately, Ith, High Arcanist transplants the full text of Maze of Ith onto a legendary creature. This essentially lets it act as a repeatable ‘removal’ spell for attackers, kicking them out of combat to neutralize them as threats. As with Maze of Ith itself, just having this on-board is enough to deter opponents from attacking you in many cases.
This makes Ith ideally suited to a Control playstyle, in which it wards off attacks while you work towards a slower win. Fortunately, there are plenty of cards that support such a game plan in Azorius colors, with both Propaganda and Ghostly Prison serving as great additional attack deterrents.
Once you’ve set up a solid lock on the board, you can win the game in a range of different ways. Milling the table out slowly with cards like Mesmeric Orb and Bruvac the Grandiloquent is a strong option. Alternatively, you can dip into the alternate win conditions well, and use long-term options like Azor’s Elocutors and Millennium Calendar to close things out. However you play it, Ith’s ability will buy you the time you need to see things through.
Powerful as this ability is, you’ll need to overcome Ith’s massive mana cost in order to make use of it. In Azorius colors, with limited access to ramp, this is easier said than done. The Suspend ability here definitely helps, but it’s also incredibly slow, especially for repeat castings. For this reason, you’ll want to run some ways to quickly remove time counters, and get Ith into play sooner. Cards like Jhoira’s Timebug and Time Beetle are particularly strong options in this category.
Tap Tap Concede
Given how tough Ith, High Arcanist can be to get into play, you won’t always want to mess around with drawn-out gameplans once it drops. Fortunately, the card also enables a range of infinite combos, which can finish things off the turn Ith comes off of Suspend since it’ll enter with Haste.
The best of these are almost certainly the infinite self-mill combos. Pair Ith with either Unctus, Grand Metatect or Mesmeric Orb, and you can dump your entire library during combat. Simply attack with Ith, then tap it to target itself with its ability. This will untap Ith, but it’ll technically still be attacking, letting you repeat the process infinitely. After dumping your deck into the graveyard, either Thassa’s Oracle or Laboratory Maniac can finish the job.
You can also use the same combo to create an infinitely large creature with Wake Thrasher, allowing for a less-subtle-than-usual Azorius win. This is a slow approach by itself, since Thrasher needs to get through to each opponent in turn, but Super State can provide both the evasion and the reach that it needs. You can also repurpose protection like Whispersilk Cloak, which you’ll want to run for Ith anyway, to push this combo through.
If infinite mana is more your thing, Ith can make that too alongside Ioreth of the Healing House. With Ioreth attacking, Ith can tap to untap it, letting you use Ioreth’s ability to untap Ith and one other legend. If that legend is a mana producer, like Page, Loose Leaf, you can repeat this for infinite mana. This can then be funneled into something like Walking Ballista for the win, though you will need a Flash granter like High Fae Trickster to spend the mana during combat.
Lost In The Maze
While Ith, High Arcanist certainly isn’t the most powerful MTG Commander out there, it has novelty firmly on its side. Control as a playstyle is fairly weak in the format these days, with how fast and efficient most new threats are. Ith, then, serves as a rare example of a great Control Commander, letting you explore that rapidly-shrinking niche with a solid legend at the helm. It’s also a neat political or Group Hug Commander, letting you mess with multiple opponents when paired with repeatable untap effects.
Despite this unique edge, Ith, High Arcanist barely sees any play at all in Commander. According to EDHREC data, in fact, a paltry 63 decks run Ith in the command zone, and just 1.86k decks in the 99. Considering how many players enjoy long, drawn-out Commander games, it’s surprising to see the card getting so little love.
That said, the lack of eyes on Ith does make it a fantastic bargain pickup. Near-mint copies of the card’s Time Spiral Remastered reprint can be had for just $0.10, or you can get the original for $0.16. You can also nab foils of the regular version for just $0.25, if you feel the need to showcase the blingiest version of this Commander you can find.
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