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.
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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 needs

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

The Xanathar, Guild Kingpin deck plan

The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards 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. Crashing Drawbridge2 mana
  2. Bontu's Monument3 mana
  3. Oketra's Monument3 mana
  4. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose3 mana
  5. Nightscape Familiar2 mana
  6. Hazoret's Monument3 mana
  7. Rhonas's Monument3 mana
  8. Twinning Staff3 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. Infernal Grasp2 mana
  8. Fatal Push1 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. Demonic Consultation1 mana
  6. Grim Tutor3 mana
  7. Tainted Pact2 mana
  8. Scheming Symmetry1 mana

Answer a spell or ability before it resolves

  1. Mindbreak Trap4 mana
  2. Fierce Guardianship3 mana
  3. Force of Negation3 mana
  4. Force of Will5 mana
  5. Flare of Denial3 mana
  6. Pact of Negation0 mana
  7. An Offer You Can't Refuse1 mana
  8. Arcane Denial2 mana

Answer a whole board at once

  1. Toxic Deluge3 mana
  2. Damnation4 mana
  3. Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
  4. Sickening Dreams2 mana
  5. Crypt Rats3 mana
  6. Extinction Event4 mana
  7. Endemic Plague4 mana
  8. Desynchronization4 mana

Refill your hand

  1. Mystic Remora1 mana
  2. Skullclamp1 mana
  3. Curiosity1 mana
  4. Wizard Class1 mana
  5. Black Market Connections3 mana
  6. Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
  7. Morbid Opportunist3 mana
  8. Phyrexian Arena3 mana

Keep a permanent you control alive through removal

  1. Lost in the Maze2 mana
  2. Lightning Greaves2 mana
  3. Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
  4. Eldrazi Monument5 mana
  5. Commander's Plate1 mana
  6. Mithril Coat3 mana
  7. Akroma's Memorial7 mana
  8. The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana

Get ahead on mana

  1. Sol Ring1 mana
  2. Dimir Signet2 mana
  3. Palladium Myr3 mana
  4. Worn Powerstone3 mana
  5. Chrome Mox0 mana
  6. Everflowing Chalice0 mana
  7. Mox Diamond0 mana
  8. Mana Vault1 mana

Mana from a NONLAND permanent — a commander that doubles nonland mana gets nothing from lands

  1. Chrome Mox0 mana
  2. Everflowing Chalice0 mana
  3. Mox Amber0 mana
  4. Mox Diamond0 mana
  5. Mana Vault1 mana
  6. Sol Ring1 mana
  7. Astral Cornucopia0 mana
  8. Mox Jasper0 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