Despite the fact that every MTG deck is inevitably going to involve casting spells at some point, only some decks carry the Spellslinger moniker.
Spellslinger decks are all about casting a lot of Instant and Sorcery spells and getting a lot of benefit out of them, and the best Spellslinger commanders support that aim and give you a lot of value for going all-in on the game plan.
The best Spellslinger commanders
Adeliz, the Cinder Wind is our honorable mention this time around. Adeliz is a three mana Blue and Red 2/2 with flying and haste, but most importantly, they’re a Wizard (Harry).
Whenever you cast an Instant or a Sorcery spell, Wizards you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. While they can be built as a Spellslinger deck, they’re generally far better at the head of a Wizards tribal deck. We still like them, but we don’t think they deserve a spot amongst the best Spellslinger commanders.
10 – Kalamax, the Stormsire
Look, we love dinosaurs as much as the next site, and dinosaurs with cool glowing spines are even better. Kalamax, the Stormsire is a four mana Green, Blue, and Red 4/4 that gets a +1/+1 counter on it whenever you copy an Instant spell.
Also, “Whenever you cast your first instant spell each turn, if Kalamax, the Stormsire is tapped, copy that spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.” While this does only affect Instant spells, it’s still a pretty potent power, and you also get to use a giant electric stegosaurus.
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9 – Kess, Dissident Mage
Kess, Dissident Mage, is a four mana Blue, Black, and Red flying 3/4. They allow you to cast one Instant or Sorcery from your graveyard during each of your turns, and then you exile that card.
While the ability is very useful, there are a lot of ways to grant flashback in Commander, so it’s not as potent as it can be in other formats. We still like them a lot, and it’s a great ability to have on your commander, but we just think the other cards on this list do better things.
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8 – Kykar, Wind’s Fury
Ideally, you want your Spellslinger commander to do a few different things. Well, Kykar, Wind’s Fury is a four mana Blue, Red, and White 3/3 with flying that allows you to sacrifice a Spirit to gain one Red mana.
Also, whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you get to create a 1/1 Spirit token with flying. We wouldn’t have placed Kykar on this list a few weeks ago, but there are some really nice Spirit synergies in Red and White now that push this into the top tier.
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7 – Melek, Izzet Paragon
Melek, Izzet Paragon, is a six mana Blue and Red 2/4 with a lot of abilities. First of all, you play with the top card of your library revealed, and if it’s an Instant or a Sorcery, then you can cast it.
Even better, if you do cast it from the top of your deck, you can copy it and choose new targets for it. Being able to copy more or less all of your Instant and Sorcery spells is a huge boon, and while playing with the top card of your library revealed does give away some information, it’s nothing you can’t deal with by using the right spells.
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6 – Wort, the Raidmother
Gruul isn’t a traditional color combination for Spellslinger decks, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Wort, the Raidmother is a six mana Red and Green 3/3 that enters the battlefield with two 1/1 Goblins.
They also grant every Red or Green Instant and Sorcery spell conspire, which means you can tap two untapped Creatures that share a color with the spell to copy it and then choose new targets for it. While you don’t always have the same level of card draw in Red and Green, there are a lot of powerful spells that are worth copying in those colors, so this can be a lot of fun.
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5 – Sevinne, the Chronoclasm
Sevinne, the Chronoclasm is a five mana Blue, Red, and White 2/2 that doesn’t take damage from anything, which is already a good start.
They also read, “Whenever you cast your first instant or sorcery spell from your graveyard each turn, copy that spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.” All you need to do is make the most of some of the great flashback spells, and you’ll be laughing almost constantly with Sevinne out.
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4 – Zaffai, Thunder Conductor
Zaffai, Thunder Conductor is a four mana Blue and Red 1/4 with a powerful magecraft ability. They also look a bit like David Bowie, and that’s obviously incredibly cool.
Their ability reads, “Whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell, scry 1. If that spell’s mana value is 5 or greater, create a 4/4 blue and red Elemental creature token. If that spell’s mana value is 10 or greater, Zaffai, Thunder Conductor deals 10 damage to an opponent chosen at random.” The ability to constantly get extra value from everything you cast is something that’s hard to beat, and again, David Bowie.
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3 – Jeleva, Nephalia’s Scourge
Now, Jeleva, Nephalia’s Scourge is a commander that often appears in competitive EDH decks, but it’s not really because of the Spellslinger angle. They’re a four mana Blue, Black, and Red 1/3 with flying who exiles the top X cards of everyone’s libraries when they enter the battlefield, where X is however much mana was spent to cast them.
Then, when Jeleva attacks, you can cast an Instant or Sorcery exiled with them without paying its mana cost. That means that, not only do you get the chance to cast some of your best spells for free, but also everyone else’s. It’s a lot of fun stealing things from other players, and Jeleva is one of the best Spellslinger commanders for doing so.
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2 – Mizzix of the Izmagnus
Our penultimate choice today is Mizzix of the Izmagnus, who is a four mana Blue and Red 2/2 that reads, “Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell with mana value greater than the number of experience counters you have, you get an experience counter.”
Then, all of your Instant and Sorcery spells cost one mana less for each experience counter you have. If what you want to do is make the most of storm, or even something like Thousand-Year Storm, then this is probably the best Spellslinger commander for you, because it’s very easy to cast the most obnoxiously over-priced spells in MTG with Mizzix out.
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1 – Veyran, Voice of Duality
Our final choice is another fairly new card, and it’s Veyran, Voice of Duality. Veyran is a three mana Blue and Red 2/2 and they have a magecraft ability that gives Veyran +1/+1 until end of turn whenever you cast or copy a spell.
The thing that makes them absurd though, is that they also read, “If you casting or copying an instant or sorcery spell causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.” That means you can have absurd turns where your Creatures trigger multiple times, you get loads of spells, and the game turns in your favor in a matter of seconds.
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