Gandalf of the Secret FireGandalf of the Secret Fire | Art by Matt Stewart

Many Meetings

Hello, and welcome back to Beyond the Multiverse! Last week, I asked if the DnD sets counted as Universes Beyond. The consensus is that they do count as part of the product line, so I'll treat them as such. Also, I said that I had a plan for this week's deck, and I certainly do. It's a deck I tried to get out earlier this year, but nothing was working, so I left it behind. That is, until now. So, what is it I'm planning exactly?

A Wizard is Never Late, Nor is He Early

Everyone knows who Gandalf is, especially if they've either read the books or watched that legendary trilogy. He was also in The Hobbit, but his role was minor by comparison. Having said that, I won't dive into his lore beyond that since he's so well known.

Reading the card, we could see why I've had a hard time trying to figure the card out. When I came back to it a while later, though, the pieces fell into place. One, in particular, stood out to me: What if I made the deck using only instants? I can't say it's possible, because most board wipes are sorceries. However, we're putting a heavy focus on instants and since we're suspending them we'll need to be careful with our selection. We're getting to that below.

Instant Gratification

At its heart, this iteration of Gandalf is a spellslinger list, especially since he affects sorceries as well. That said, there wasn't anything within the Universes Beyond card pool that can give sorceries flash (at time of writing). I've had an identical problem when I was making the Ashad, the Lone CybermanAshad, the Lone Cyberman deck from earlier this year. The solution? Hamfist a bunch of instants into the deck, but even then we have to be selective about what goes in. Another solution would be to add certain in-universe cards, but I'll cover those in a later section.

For starters, we can't simply run our average CounterspellCounterspell. It'll do nothing when we cast it off suspend (unless we're into countering your own stuff). Instead, our counterspells pack more utility. For example, Reverse the PolarityReverse the Polarity can be used initially to counter a spell, but when cast from exile, one of the other two modes could be selected instead. Doing this means it wouldn't be a dead card. A more recent example, School DazeSchool Daze, counters a spell the first time, but can draw us cards instead on upkeep.

Another thing worth noting is that a lot of instants tend to be spot removal, so there's bound to be a lot that make it into a decklist. Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares and Olórin's Searing LightOlórin's Searing Light are two examples of this. Protection spells are another common trend, but be wary of those that phase out our stuff. It's best to play those when Gandalf isn't around, ironically.

Sorcerer's Drought

Remember when I implied that the number of sorceries will be few? I seriously mean it. The decklist below has a paltry four sorceries to its name, and they do either one of two things: wipe the board, or time travel. Time travel cards, like The Wedding of River SongThe Wedding of River Song, are useful because they speed up the clock, allowing us to cast our suspended cards from exile faster. Unfortunately, while we do have a few other time travel cards, their numbers are few, even in-universe, but we make do with what we have.

On the other hand, we're running few creatures, and we need to keep those aggro decks in check, so we rely on board wipes to do that for us. I do think the deck could benefit from another wipe, but that'd be for another time. Probably Austere CommandAustere Command, if I had to pick one.

Outside of those, the instants easily shore up the other categories we need to cover. Artifacts, too, but that's mostly ramp in a Gandalf deck anyway.

Gandalf's Spellbook

A Wizard Goes to War

I already covered much of what could be in a given list, but I do want to highlight a few more cards. Firstly, the main way we win is through the GuttersnipeGuttersnipe effects. There's several of them, including a couple of enchantments, so finding one of these isn't going to be too difficult. Keeper of SecretsKeeper of Secrets won't be bringing opponents' life totals down so quickly here, but it can be useful spot removal. However, Flaming TyrannosaurusFlaming Tyrannosaurus will end games if enough counters are on it.

Coming from the recent but much-maligned Spider-Man set are Spider-VerseSpider-Verse and Shadow of the GoblinShadow of the Goblin. The former copies spells that come out of suspend while the latter will ping opponents for each one. Then, once they hit the graveyard, we can bring them back with cards like Exalted Flamer of TzeentchExalted Flamer of Tzeentch (who is also one of our pingers, by the way) and cast them again.

Meanwhile, The Lost and the DamnedThe Lost and the Damned will accrue a considerable board presence the more instants we cast from exile. Either we could attack with them, or we could turtle up and be on the defensive. Time BeetleTime Beetle is an evasive creature that, when it connects, will allow us to time travel, perhaps to help amass that token army faster. In addition, while not in the deck (an oversight), The Ninth DoctorThe Ninth Doctor can untap to give us an additional upkeep, speeding up the clock if he survives combat.

Looking Beyond the Horizon

Peering through in-universe cards brings with it a massive boon: casting cards at instant speed. Stuff like Leyline of AnticipationLeyline of Anticipation and High Fae TricksterHigh Fae Trickster means that we can even cast sorceries at instant speed, enabling Gandalf to suspend them with his trigger. That said, we can't depend too heavily on these cards, since they're not common.

Also, since they're noncreature spells, we'll draw cards off of Whirlwind of ThoughtWhirlwind of Thought. Speaking of benefiting off of casting instants and sorceries, one of the best is Storm-Kiln ArtistStorm-Kiln Artist, who'll ramp us with each one. With Gandalf, that'll be two Treasures per spell. Also, we get a couple extra Guttersnipe effects with Firebrand ArcherFirebrand Archer and Kessig FlamebreatherKessig Flamebreather.

Some other noteworthy cards include Delayed Blast FireballDelayed Blast Fireball, which can't be foretold if we want to suspend it with Gandalf's trigger, but it's still a good wipe. The other usual DnD exile suspects are good, too, though Passionate ArchaeologistPassionate Archaeologist will be part of our Universes Beyond card pool very soon.

Sailing Into the West

With this article, it brings closure to one of my more frustrating builds to make. I'm not sure why it took me this long to see it, but then again, it's not my typical build. Moving on, as I hinted above with Passionate Archaeologist, we did get news of more Secret Lair drops, especially the Playstation ones. In fact, I'm going to be covering at least one of these drops. Come back next time when I do just that (and I might do things a little differently. A kind of build I would do).