Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Gandalf, Shadow's Foe
Gandalf, Shadow's Foe
Legendary Creature — Avatar Wizard · {5}{U}{U} · Blue commander
Vigilance
When Gandalf enters, exile up to three target lands you control, then return them to the battlefield tapped under their owner's control.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, draw a card and put a +1/+1 counter on Gandalf.
Build a Gandalf, Shadow's Foe deck →
What Gandalf, Shadow's Foe 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 · etbWhen Gandalf enters, exile up to three target lands you control, then return them to the battlefield tapped under their owner's control.
- Triggered ability · etbWhenever a land you control enters, draw a card and put a +1/+1 counter on Gandalf.
- Keyword · vigilancevigilance
- Keyword · landfalllandfall
What a Gandalf, Shadow's Foe deck wants
The plan the Forge derives for this commander: the roles it fills and how many of each.
- 16× Put a land onto the battlefield — for a landfall commander this triggers where a normal land drop does not
- 6× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 8× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 14× 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
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 7× Refill your hand
Best cards for Gandalf, Shadow's Foe
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.
Put a land onto the battlefield — for a landfall commander this triggers where a normal land drop does not
- Sword of Forge and Frontier3 mana
- Storm Cauldron5 mana
- Evolving Wilds0 mana
- Fabled Passage0 mana
- Flooded Strand0 mana
- Misty Rainforest0 mana
- Myriad Landscape0 mana
- Polluted Delta0 mana
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Displacer Kitten4 mana
- Eternal Acrobat Toast0 mana
- Conjurer's Closet5 mana
- Nephalia Smuggler1 mana
- Y'shtola Rhul6 mana
- Escape Protocol2 mana
- Gandalf, Shadow's Foe7 mana
- Essence Flux1 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Mystic Sanctuary0 mana
- Cabaretti Courtyard0 mana
- Lotus Field0 mana
- Riveteers Overlook0 mana
- Talon Gates of Madara0 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Adventurer's Inn0 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Karn's Bastion0 mana
- Ripples of Potential2 mana
- Thrummingbird2 mana
- Contagion Clasp2 mana
- Contentious Plan2 mana
- Experimental Augury2 mana
- Tezzeret's Gambit4 mana
- Dreamtide Whale3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- Suspend1 mana
- Snap2 mana
- Into the Flood Maw1 mana
- Planar Incision2 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Displacement Wave2 mana
- Filter Out3 mana
- Aligned Hedron Network4 mana
- Coercive Portal4 mana
- Whelming Wave4 mana
- Consuming Tide4 mana
- Llawan, Cephalid Empress4 mana
- Part the Veil4 mana
Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- Pact of Negation0 mana
- Counterspell2 mana
- Three Steps Ahead1 mana
- Long River's Pull2 mana
- Force of Will5 mana
- Abjure1 mana
- Archmage's Charm3 mana
- Cancel3 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Reshape2 mana
- Mask of the Mimic1 mana
- Long-Term Plans3 mana
- Whir of Invention3 mana
- Merchant Scroll2 mana
- Mystical Tutor1 mana
- Muddle the Mixture2 mana
- Personal Tutor1 mana
Refill your hand
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Rhystic Study3 mana
- Faerie Mastermind2 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Combat Research1 mana