Gandalf wants a deck that removes its creatures and brings them right back to reuse them. It also suits a deck that gets a reward every time it plays a land.
Mana cost
Blue ()
Power / toughness3 / 4
RarityMythic
Vigilance
When Gandalf enters, exile up to three target lands you control, then return them to the battlefield tapped under their owner's control.
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, draw a card and put a +1/+1 counter on Gandalf.
Picked for what they do in Gandalf's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Gandalf'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.Open the full glossary
explain how Gandalf 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 Coast29 Jun 2026
A landfall ability doesn't trigger if a permanent already on the battlefield becomes a land.
Wizards of the Coast29 Jun 2026
A landfall ability triggers whenever a land you control enters for any reason. It triggers whenever you play a land, as well as whenever a spell or ability puts a land onto the battlefield under your control.
Wizards of the Coast29 Jun 2026
Whenever a land you control enters, each landfall ability of permanents you control will trigger. You can put them on the stack in any order. The last ability you put on the stack will be the first one to resolve (as a result, you can have those abilities resolve in the order of your choosing).
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 glossaryUPlayers write colors as letters: U for blue. Blue is U because B was already taken by black.Blink/FlickerBlink decks briefly remove their own creatures from play and return them at once, so every 'when this enters' ability happens again. The move is called a flicker, and it can also rescue a creature from a spell aimed at it.Open the Blink/Flicker pageFlicker/SaveBriefly exiles a permanent you control and immediately returns it. That saves it from a kill spell like Swords to Plowshares, and it re-triggers any enter the battlefield ability: Mulldrifter flickered is two more cards. Ephemerate, Teferi's ProtectionOpen the Flicker/Save pageDrawDraws you extra cards. More cards means more choices every turn, and in a 100-card deck it is the main way to find the pieces you need. Rhystic Study, SkullclampOpen the Draw pageETB ValueDoes something useful the moment it arrives: an enter the battlefield ability, which players shorten to ETB. You keep that effect even if the card is removed straight afterwards, which is why these pair so well with flicker cards that make them enter again. Solemn Simulacrum, The One RingOpen the ETB Value pageCounter EngineAdds +1/+1 counters over and over rather than once. A counter here is a small permanent marker that raises a creature's power and toughness for good. It is not a counterspell, which is a different thing entirely. Something that adds them every turn makes your whole board bigger and keeps it that way. Hardened Scales, Corpsejack MenaceOpen the Counter Engine page+1/+1 CountersPuts +1/+1 counters on creatures, permanently raising their power and toughness. Unlike a temporary boost that wears off at end of turn, these markers stay put and stack up over a long game. Hardened Scales, The Great HengeOpen the +1/+1 Counters pageLandfallLandfall decks reward you each time a land enters the battlefield for you, then find ways to play extra lands. You can normally play only one land a turn, so cards that let you play more, or pull lands out of your deck, make everything happen more often.Open the Landfall pageLandfallTriggers whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control. Extra land plays and cards that pull lands out of your deck can set it off several times in one turn. Tireless Tracker Evolution SageOpen the Landfall page+1/+1 Counters+1/+1 counter decks put small markers on their creatures that make each one permanently bigger, and keep adding more every turn. Each +1/+1 counter adds one to a creature's power (the damage it deals) and toughness (the damage it can take).Open the +1/+1 Counters page
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