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Sanar, Unfinished Genius // Wild Idea

Sanar, Unfinished Genius // Wild Idea

Legendary Creature — Goblin Sorcerer // Sorcery

Sanar wants a deck that searches its deck for the right answer to each problem. It also suits a deck that makes lots of Treasure and turns it into extra mana.

  • Mana costbluered
  • Blue, Red ()
  • Power / toughness0 / 4
  • RarityUncommon

Sanar enters prepared. (While it's prepared, you may cast a copy of its spell. Doing so unprepares it.)

tap: Create a Treasure token. Activate only if you've cast an instant or sorcery spell this turn.

//

Search your library for an instant or sorcery card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.

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Themes

Cards That Fit Sanar, Unfinished Genius

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

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The 6 Cards

plan6

The 6 Cards

plan6

The 6 Cards

Rulings for Sanar, Unfinished Genius

explain how Sanar 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 20 Mar 2026

A creature with a prepare spell can't become prepared more than once at the same time. For example, Emeritus of Ideation is on the battlefield and is prepared. When it attacks, its last ability triggers. When that ability resolves, its controller may still exile eight cards from their graveyard, but doing so won't cause Emeritus of Ideation to become prepared a second time or create a second copy of Ancestral Recall in exile.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

A creature without a prepare spell can't become prepared.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

A preparation card is a creature card in every zone. For example, while it's in your graveyard, Emeritus of Ideation is a blue creature whose mana value is 5. It can't be the target of Zealous Lorecaster's triggered ability ("When this creature enters, return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.").

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

As an effect causes a creature with a prepare spell to become prepared (including effects that state that a creature "enters prepared"), that creature's controller creates a copy of that creature's prepare spell in exile. That copy remains in exile for as long as that permanent is on the battlefield and is prepared. That creature's controller may cast that copy as long as it remains in exile. As they cast it, that creature stops being prepared.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

Being prepared isn't a copiable value. If a permanent becomes a copy of a prepared creature, it won't be prepared. That permanent will have the alternative characteristics, though, and some other effect could cause it to become prepared later.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

Casting a copy of a prepare spell from exile isn't casting it for an alternative cost. Effects that allow you to cast a spell for an alternative cost or without paying its mana cost may allow you to apply those to a copy of a prepare spell cast from exile.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

Creating a copy of a creature's prepare spell in exile ignores copy exceptions applied to that creature that would affect the copiable values of that spell. For example, say a player casts Croaking Counterpart (a sorcery that says "Create a token that's a copy of target non-Frog creature, except it's a 1/1 green Frog.") targeting Goblin Glasswright. The token copy of Goblin Glasswright will enter prepared as a 1/1 green Frog creature, but the copy of Craft with Pride in exile will still be a red sorcery. The copy of Craft with Pride won't be green, a creature, or a Frog, and it won't have power or toughness.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

If a prepare spell with one or more targets has no legal targets when it tries to resolve, it won't resolve and none of its effects will happen. Since the spell was cast, the associated permanent will still not be prepared.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

If a prepared creature loses all abilities, it won't stop being prepared, and nothing will happen to its alternative characteristics or to the copy of its prepare spell in exile.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

If a prepared creature stops being a creature, it will still be prepared, and the copy of its prepare spell will remain in exile. That permanent's controller will still be able to cast it. The same is true if a prepared creature becomes a copy of something else, even if it's then a permanent without a prepare spell.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

If an effect causes a creature to become unprepared, a prepared creature stops being prepared and the associated copy of its prepare spell in exile ceases to exist. If it wasn't prepared at that time, nothing happens.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

If an effect instructs you to choose a card name, you may choose the alternative prepare spell's name. Consider only the alternative characteristics to determine whether that is an appropriate name to choose.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

Only the current controller of a prepared creature can cast the copy of its prepare spell in exile. It doesn't matter who owns that creature or who controlled it when it became prepared.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

Preparation cards can only be cast with their base characteristics.

Wizards of the Coast 20 Mar 2026

While copies of spells in zones other than the stack cease to exist when state-based actions are checked, this does not apply to copies of prepare spells in exile that were created as a creature became prepared.

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

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Sanar, 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.ToolboxToolbox decks carry one perfect answer for each kind of problem, plus plenty of cards that search the deck for whichever one they need. A card that searches your deck for another card is called a tutor.Open the Toolbox pageTutor - BroadFinds any card of a broad type: creature, artifact, enchantment, instant or sorcery. Mystical Tutor, Worldly Tutor, Enlightened Tutor.Open the Tutor - Broad pageTutorSearches your deck for a specific card. Because a Commander deck may only contain one copy of each card, a tutor is how you reliably find the exact one you need. See the Tutor tier tags for how broad each search is. Demonic TutorOpen the Tutor pageTreasure EngineProduces Treasure tokens repeatedly. A Treasure is a small artifact token you sacrifice for one mana of any color. Something that keeps making them is mana acceleration and, at the same time, a steady supply of artifacts to sacrifice for anything that wants them. Smothering Tithe, Dockside Extortionist, Goldspan DragonOpen the Treasure Engine pageTreasureCreates or cares about Treasure tokens: small artifacts you can sacrifice for one mana of any color. Saving them up lets you cast something big early, or feed anything that likes sacrificing artifacts.Open the Treasure pageTreasuresTreasure decks make lots of Treasures, small artifact tokens you can trade in for one mana of any color, then spend that mana on big plays. Many of the same cards reward you for having or sacrificing artifacts, so each Treasure does two jobs.Open the Treasures pageTokensToken decks fill the battlefield with small creatures made by their cards, then attack with all of them or make them all bigger at once. A token is a creature (or other object) that a card creates, not a card from your deck.Open the Tokens pageToken EngineMakes tokens again and again rather than once. A token is a creature or other permanent created by a card, with no card of its own. Something that makes one token gives you a body; something that makes them every turn gives you a board you can keep rebuilding after it is cleared. Grave Titan, Bitterblossom, OphiomancerOpen the Token Engine pageToken MakerCreates one or more tokens. Different cards make very different ones: creatures Grave Titan, Treasures Smothering Tithe, Clues Tireless Tracker or Food Gilded Goose. This is one of our largest tags, so pair it with an archetype or theme when you are hunting a specific kind.Open the Token Maker pageTutors / ToolboxCards that search your deck for another card, each one called a tutor, so you can find the exact answer you need.Open the Tutors / Toolbox page