Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Xanathar, Guild Kingpin

Xanathar, Guild Kingpin

Xanathar, Guild Kingpin

Legendary Creature — Beholder · {4}{U}{B} · Black/Blue commander

At the beginning of your upkeep, choose target opponent. Until end of turn, that player can't cast spells, you may look at the top card of their library any time, you may play the top card of their library, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast spells this way.
Build a Xanathar, Guild Kingpin deck →

What Xanathar, Guild Kingpin actually does

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

What a Xanathar, Guild Kingpin deck wants

The plan the Forge derives for this commander: the roles it fills and how many of each.

Best cards for Xanathar, Guild Kingpin

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.

A permanent that does something every turn it is on the battlefield — the deck's body, for a commander whose text asks for nothing specific

  1. Mox Diamond0 mana
  2. Chromatic Lantern3 mana
  3. Arcane Lighthouse0 mana
  4. Eye of Ugin0 mana
  5. Crashing Drawbridge2 mana
  6. Bontu's Monument3 mana
  7. Oketra's Monument3 mana
  8. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose3 mana

Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it

  1. Reality Shift2 mana
  2. Pongify1 mana
  3. Rapid Hybridization1 mana
  4. Resculpt2 mana
  5. Defile1 mana
  6. Tragic Slip1 mana
  7. Suspend1 mana
  8. Infernal Grasp2 mana

Answer a whole board at once

  1. Do or Die2 mana
  2. Force of Despair3 mana
  3. Displacement Wave2 mana
  4. Accursed Marauder2 mana
  5. Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
  6. Innocent Blood1 mana
  7. Coils of the Medusa2 mana
  8. Forced March3 mana

Answer a spell or ability before it resolves

  1. Pact of Negation0 mana
  2. Counterspell2 mana
  3. Three Steps Ahead1 mana
  4. Long River's Pull2 mana
  5. Force of Will5 mana
  6. Abjure1 mana
  7. Archmage's Charm3 mana
  8. Cancel3 mana

Find the exact card the plan needs

  1. Demonic Tutor2 mana
  2. Diabolic Intent2 mana
  3. Vampiric Tutor1 mana
  4. Imperial Seal1 mana
  5. Insatiable Avarice1 mana
  6. Diabolic Intent2 mana
  7. Grim Tutor3 mana
  8. Liliana Vess // Liliana Vess0 mana

Refill your hand

  1. Mystic Remora1 mana
  2. Skullclamp1 mana
  3. Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
  4. Curiosity1 mana
  5. Wizard Class1 mana
  6. Black Market Connections3 mana
  7. Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
  8. Morbid Opportunist3 mana

Keep a permanent you control alive through removal

  1. Gleaming Overseer3 mana
  2. Cryptothrall4 mana
  3. Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus4 mana
  4. Lost in the Maze2 mana
  5. Lightning Greaves2 mana
  6. Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
  7. Eldrazi Monument5 mana
  8. Commander's Plate1 mana

Get ahead on mana

  1. Chrome Mox0 mana
  2. Everflowing Chalice0 mana
  3. Mox Amber0 mana
  4. Mox Diamond0 mana
  5. Mox Opal0 mana
  6. Mana Vault1 mana
  7. Sol Ring1 mana
  8. Wayfarer's Bauble1 mana

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