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Ian Malcolm, Chaotician

Ian Malcolm, Chaotician

Legendary Creature — Human Scientist

Ian Malcolm wants a deck that makes everyone swap their hand for a fresh one. It also works in a deck built around Humans, Library Manipulation or Scientists.

  • Mana cost1 genericbluered
  • Blue, Red ()
  • Power / toughness2 / 2
  • RarityRare

Whenever a player draws their second card each turn, that player exiles the top card of their library.

During each player's turn, that player may cast a spell from among the cards they don't own exiled with Ian Malcolm, and mana of any type can be spent to cast it.

Build a deck with Ian Malcolm Find it in the app

Archetypes
Themes

Cards That Fit Ian Malcolm, Chaotician

Picked for what they do in Ian Malcolm's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Ian Malcolm'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

Rulings for Ian Malcolm, Chaotician

explain how Ian Malcolm 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 10 Nov 2023

Ian Malcolm, Chaotician's first ability can trigger only once each turn for each player. It doesn't matter if Ian was on the battlefield when the first card was drawn. If you control it when a player draws their second card in a turn, that ability will trigger.

Wizards of the Coast 10 Nov 2023

Players must follow all applicable timing rules for casting spells with the permission granted by Ian Malcolm, Chaotician's last ability. For example, if the spell is a sorcery, it can only be cast during that player's main phase while the stack is empty.

Wizards of the Coast 10 Nov 2023

The six types of mana are white, blue, black, red, green, and colorless. Snow mana is not a type of mana. Ian Malcolm, Chaotician won't let you pay a snow cost using mana produced by a nonsnow source.

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

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Ian Malcolm, 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 glossaryURPlayers write colors as letters: U for blue, R for red. Blue is U because B was already taken by black.WheelsWheel decks make every player swap their whole hand for a fresh one, then profit from all that drawing. One way is making opponents lose life for each card they draw. The name comes from the card Wheel of Fortune.Open the Wheels pageDraw PayoffRewards card drawing: it triggers whenever you or an opponent draws a card, rather than drawing cards itself. Pair it with cards that make everyone draw, like Wheel of Fortune or Howling Mine, so the cards everyone else gets end up working for you. Smothering TitheOpen the Draw Payoff 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 page