Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Xande, Dark Mage
Xande, Dark Mage
Legendary Creature — Human Wizard · {2}{U}{B} · Black/Blue commander
What Xande, Dark Mage actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Keyword · menacemenace
- AbilityXande gets +1/+1 for each noncreature, nonland card in your graveyard.
What a Xande, Dark Mage deck needs
Plays as graveyard. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- self-mill, discard and recursion (the graveyard is a resource its text reads)
The Xande, Dark Mage deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 12× Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- 9× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 5× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- 3× Answer a whole board at once
- 12× Refill your hand
- 5× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Xande, Dark Mage
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 your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- Takenuma, Abandoned Mire0 mana
- Stitcher's Supplier1 mana
- Ripples of Undeath2 mana
- Emry, Lurker of the Loch3 mana
- Eden, Seat of the Sanctum0 mana
- Port of Karfell0 mana
- Tomb Fortress0 mana
- Millikin2 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Entomb1 mana
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- Mindbreak Trap4 mana
- Fierce Guardianship3 mana
- Force of Negation3 mana
- Force of Will5 mana
- Flare of Denial3 mana
- Pact of Negation0 mana
- An Offer You Can't Refuse1 mana
- Arcane Denial2 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
- Desynchronization4 mana
Refill your hand
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Lost in the Maze2 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Dimir Signet2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 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.
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