The Archimandrite wants a deck that gains life over and over and gets rewarded for it. It also works in a deck built around Advisors or Humans.
Mana cost
White, Blue, Red ()
Power / toughness0 / 5
RarityRare
At the beginning of your upkeep, you gain X life, where X is the number of cards in your hand minus 4.
Whenever you gain life, each Advisor, Artificer, and Monk you control gains vigilance and gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the amount of life you gained.
Tap three untapped Advisors, Artificers, and/or Monks you control: Draw a card.
Picked for what they do in The Archimandrite's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit The Archimandrite'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 The Archimandrite 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 Coast14 Oct 2022
Since The Archimandrite’s activated ability doesn’t have a tap symbol in its cost, you can tap creatures that haven’t been under your control since your most recent turn began (including The Archimandrite itself) to pay the cost.
Wizards of the Coast14 Oct 2022
You can’t gain negative amounts of life. If you have fewer than four cards in hand as the first ability resolves, you won’t gain any life, but you won’t lose any life either.
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 glossaryWURPlayers write colors as letters: W for white, U for blue, R for red. Blue is U because B was already taken by black.LifegainLifegain decks gain life over and over and use cards that reward each gain with extra cards, creatures or damage to opponents. Everyone starts at 40 life in Commander, so the extra life also keeps you safe while you set up.Open the Lifegain pageLifegain PayoffTurns life gain into an actual effect: draining opponents, drawing cards, or growing creatures each time you gain life. Without one of these, gaining life mostly just delays things. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, Sanguine BondOpen the Lifegain Payoff pageLifegain EngineGains you life again and again, on a trigger that keeps happening, rather than once. You start at 40 life in Commander, so life is something to spend as well as a cushion, and a card like this sets off every card that rewards you for gaining it. Soul Warden, Trostani, Selesnya's VoiceOpen the Lifegain Engine pageStat ScalingA creature whose power and toughness count something, so it grows as the game goes on. It might count lands you control or cards in your graveyard. Craterhoof Behemoth, Psychosis CrawlerOpen the Stat Scaling pageAdvisorsAdvisors are the counselors, scholars and officials of Magic's worlds, mostly white and blue creatures.Open the Advisors pageLife GainGains you life, once or over and over. Soul Warden, The Great Henge. In Commander life is something to spend, not just a cushion, and many of these cards also set off others that reward gaining life.Open the Life Gain 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 page
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