Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Basim Ibn Ishaq

Basim Ibn Ishaq

Legendary Creature — Human Assassin · {U}{B} · Black/Blue commander

Whenever you cast a historic spell, draw a card. Basim Ibn Ishaq can't be blocked this turn. This ability triggers only once each turn. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.) Whenever Basim Ibn Ishaq deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it.

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What Basim Ibn Ishaq actually does

Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.

• Triggered ability · cast_spellWhenever you cast a historic spell, draw a card. Basim Ibn Ishaq can't be blocked this turn. This ability triggers only once each turn.
• Triggered ability · deals_damageWhenever Basim Ibn Ishaq deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it.

What a Basim Ibn Ishaq deck needs

Plays as combat trigger. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.

• historic spells (its trigger fires on each one you cast)
• counter doublers and proliferate (it grows only itself with +1/+1 counters)
• pump, equipment and protection for the commander (it connects on its own — turn the hits into kills)
• evasion and protection for the commander (the trigger needs its combat damage to connect)

The Basim Ibn Ishaq deck plan

The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.

• 9× Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
• 22× A card that is CAST to trigger the commander — reanimating or blinking it does not count
• 8× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
• 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
• 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
• 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
• 1× Answer a whole board at once
• 7× Refill your hand
• 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal

Best cards for Basim Ibn Ishaq

Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.

Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →

Arcane Foundry is free to join and every tool is included: the Arcane Forge deck builder, the ARCANE Analyzer that scores a deck by simulating games rather than counting staples, a card scanner, a collection vault, and live webcam Commander tables. Read the guide · Browse all commanders · Pricing