Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Saruman of Many Colors

Saruman of Many Colors

Legendary Creature — Avatar Wizard · {3}{W}{U}{B} · Black/Blue/White commander

Ward—Discard an enchantment, instant, or sorcery card. Whenever you cast your second spell each turn, each opponent mills two cards. When one or more cards are milled this way, exile target enchantment, instant, or sorcery card with equal or lesser mana value than that spell from an opponent's graveyard. Copy the exiled card. You may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.

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What Saruman of Many Colors 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 your second spell each turn, each opponent mills two cards. When one or more cards are milled this way, exile target enchantment, instant, or sorcery card with equal or lesser mana v
• Keyword · wardward
• AbilityWard—Discard an enchantment, instant, or sorcery card.

What a Saruman of Many Colors deck needs

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

• opponent-mill spells and permanents, and mill payoffs (their library is the win)
• two cheap spells in one turn — cantrips, rituals, free spells and cost reducers (its trigger fires on your second spell each turn, never on a lone spell)

The Saruman of Many Colors deck plan

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

• 22× A cheap spell of any kind — casts per turn are the engine for an unrestricted cast trigger
• 18× Mill the opponents — their library is the win condition
• 4× Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
• 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 Saruman of Many Colors

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