Card Spotlight
Gandalf, Goblins' Bane
A 3-mana mono-red legend from The Hobbit that grows and pings the table off every noncreature spell, and has an Adventure half that exiles cards you can play later. It is a spellslinger threat with card advantage attached.
Commander Spotlight
Gandalf, Goblins' Bane ↗
A 3-mana mono-red legend from The Hobbit that grows and pings the table off every noncreature spell, and has an Adventure half that exiles cards you can play later. It is a spellslinger threat with card advantage attached.
See Gandalf, Goblins' Bane's full stats and printings →
Strategies it goes well with
- Spellslinger decks. Every noncreature spell cast grows Gandalf and pings the table, rewarding a deck built around casting a lot of instants and sorceries.
- Wizard tribal. The Adventure side's exiled cards can only be played by a deck with a Wizard on the battlefield, making it a direct payoff for the creature type.
- Aggressive red decks. The combination of a growing body and repeated table-wide pings is real reach on top of whatever else the deck is doing.
How it does in Commander
As the commander
As the commander, Gandalf rewards a mono-red or Wizard-tribal spellslinger build directly, since guaranteed access to both the noncreature-spell trigger and the Adventure side's card advantage from the command zone supports a deck leaning fully into both halves.
In the 99
A solid include in any red spells-matter or Wizard-tribal deck even without leading it, doing real work as both a growing threat and a source of card advantage.
Formats it's strong in
- Wizard tribal decks. The Adventure side's card advantage is a direct payoff for the creature type, rewarding a deck built around it specifically.
- Spellslinger and prowess decks. The noncreature-spell trigger fires off cards those decks already want to run, adding reach and growth on top of their existing plan.
Formats it's weak in
- Creature-heavy decks. With few noncreature spells to cast, the triggered ability has little to work with.
- Decks with no Wizards. Without a Wizard on the battlefield, the cards exiled by the Adventure side can never be played, wasting that half of the card entirely.
Synergistic cards
Young Pyromancer ↗
Another noncreature-spell payoff that stacks its own token generation with Gandalf's growth and pings.
Guttersnipe ↗
A direct-damage payoff for casting instants and sorceries, doubling up on the reach Gandalf already provides.
Any cheap Wizard ↗
Getting a Wizard onto the battlefield is what unlocks the Adventure side's exiled cards, so even a small one is enough.
Lightning Bolt ↗
A cheap, efficient noncreature spell that triggers Gandalf's ability for minimal mana investment.
Is it worth the price?
As a recent-set card, Gandalf, Goblins' Bane is affordable and a reasonable pickup for a red spellslinger or Wizard-tribal deck, with little financial risk.
Frequently asked questions
How does Gandalf, Goblins' Bane's triggered ability work?
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, Gandalf gets +1/+1 until end of turn and deals 1 damage to each opponent. A turn spent casting instants and sorceries makes him bigger and chips away at every opponent's life total.
What does the Adventure side of Gandalf, Goblins' Bane do?
Its Sorcery — Adventure half looks at the top two cards of your library and exiles them face down. For as long as they're exiled, you may play them if you control a Wizard, which gives a Wizard-tribal deck real card advantage before Gandalf himself is on the battlefield.
What deck wants Gandalf, Goblins' Bane?
A mono-red or Wizard-tribal spellslinger deck. The noncreature-spell trigger rewards a deck full of instants and sorceries, and the Adventure side specifically wants Wizards on the battlefield to unlock the exiled cards.