Skip to content
  1. Commander Nexus
  2. Commanders
  3. Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty

Command zone

Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty

Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty

Legendary Creature — God // Legendary Artifact

Birgi wants a deck that makes huge amounts of mana for giant spells. It also works in a deck built around Artifact Creatures, Gods / Devotion or Library Manipulation.

  • Mana cost2 genericred
  • Red ()
  • Power / toughness3 / 3
  • RarityRare

Whenever you cast a spell, add red. Until end of turn, you don't lose this mana as steps and phases end.

Creatures you control can boast twice during each of your turns rather than once.

//

Discard a card: Exile the top two cards of your library. You may play those cards this turn.

Build a deck with Birgi Find it in the app

Archetypes

Cards That Fit Birgi, God of Storytelling

Picked for what they do in Birgi's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Birgi's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Sol RingOpen the full glossary

plan6

The 6 Cards

plan6

The 6 Cards

plan6

The 6 Cards

Rulings for Birgi, God of Storytelling

explain how Birgi works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

A modal double-faced card can’t be transformed or be put onto the battlefield transformed. Ignore any instruction to transform a modal double-faced card or to put one onto the battlefield transformed.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

Any cards exiled with Harnfel that you don’t play remain exiled.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

Birgi’s first ability uses the stack and can be responded to. It isn’t a mana ability.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If an effect allows you to play a land or cast a spell from among a group of cards, you may play or cast a modal double-faced card with any face that fits the criteria of that effect.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If an effect allows you to play a specific modal double-faced card, you may cast it as a spell or play it as a land, as determined by which face you choose to play. If an effect allows you to cast (rather than “play”) a specific modal double-faced card, you can’t play it as a land.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If an effect instructs a player to choose a card name, the name of either face may be chosen. If that effect or a linked ability refers to a spell with the chosen name being cast and/or a land with the chosen name being played, it considers only the chosen name, not the other face’s name.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If an effect puts a double-faced card onto the battlefield, it enters with its front face up. If that front face can’t be put onto the battlefield, it doesn’t enter the battlefield.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

In the Commander variant, a double-faced card’s color identity is determined by the mana costs and mana symbols in the rules text of both faces combined. If either face has a color indicator or basic land type, those are also considered.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

Playing the cards exiled with Harnfel follows the normal rules for playing those cards. You must pay their costs, if any, and you must follow all applicable timing rules. For example, if one of the cards is a creature card, you can cast that card by paying its mana cost only during your main phase while the stack is empty.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

The card you discard to activate the ability isn’t part of “those cards” and can’t be played, even if it somehow ends up in exile.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

The cards exiled by Harnfel’s activated ability are exiled face up.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

The mana value of a modal double-faced card is based on the characteristics of the face that’s being considered. On the stack and battlefield, consider whichever face is up. In all other zones, consider only the front face. This is different than how the mana value of a transforming double-faced card is determined.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

There is a single triangle icon in the top left corner of the front face. There is a double triangle icon in the top left corner of the back face.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

To determine whether it is legal to play a modal double-faced card, consider only the characteristics of the face you’re playing and ignore the other face’s characteristics.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

Unless an effect allows you to play additional lands that turn, you can play land cards exiled with Harnfel only if you haven’t played a land yet that turn. In most cases, if you exile two land cards with Harnfel, you won’t be able to play both.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

You may play those cards that turn even if Harnfel leaves the battlefield or another player gains control of it.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

You must still attack with a creature you control to activate its boast ability.

17 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Birgi, and what they share.

Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryRPlayers write colors as letters: R for red.Big ManaBig Mana decks build up far more mana than usual, then spend it on huge spells. Some are X spells, which have X in their cost and get stronger the more mana you put in.Open the Big Mana pageMana StorageKeeps mana from disappearing at the end of a step or turn, or makes a burst of mana last until end of turn. Normally unused mana empties as each step ends; these cards let you save it up for something enormous. Kruphix, God of Horizons, Omnath, Locus of Mana, UpwellingOpen the Mana Storage pageRampAn effect that accelerates your mana, giving you a reusable mana source beyond the usual one land per turn. Cultivate Rampant GrowthOpen the Ramp pageGods / DevotionGods, and cards that count your devotion: the number of mana symbols of one color among the costs of your permanents. The Theros Gods cannot be destroyed, and only become creatures when your devotion to their color is high enough.Open the Gods / Devotion pageImpulse DrawExiles cards from the top of your library and lets you play them for a short time, usually only that turn. You have to use them or lose them. Act on Impulse Prosper, Tome-BoundOpen the Impulse Draw pageCard SelectionImproves what you draw rather than how much: you look at the top few cards of your library and decide what stays on top. Ponder lets you rearrange the top three, Serum Visions lets you scry, and Consider lets you surveil. It makes your draws more reliable without giving you extra cards.Open the Card Selection pageLibrary ManipulationCards that let you look at, rearrange or play from the top of your deck, so you control what you draw next.Open the Library Manipulation pageGame ChangerCards that warp the game disproportionately around themselves, requiring immediate answers.What the brackets mean