Vaan wants a deck that keeps making its creatures bigger turn after turn. It also works in a deck built around Humans, Library Manipulation or Scouts.
Mana cost
Red ()
Power / toughness2 / 2
RarityRare
Whenever one or more Scouts, Pirates, and/or Rogues you control deal combat damage to a player, exile the top card of that player's library. You may cast it. If you don't, create a Treasure token.
Whenever you cast a spell you don't own, put a +1/+1 counter on each Scout, Pirate, and Rogue you control.
Picked for what they do in Vaan's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Vaan'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 Vaan 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 Coast6 Jun 2025
Vaan's last ability resolves before the spell that caused it to trigger. It resolves even if that spell is countered or otherwise leaves the stack.
Wizards of the Coast6 Jun 2025
You cast the exiled card while Vaan's first ability is still on the stack. You can't wait to cast it later in the turn. Timing restrictions based on the card's type are ignored.
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.+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 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 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 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 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 pageScoutsScouts are mostly green and white creatures, and many help you find lands or look at the top of your deck.Open the Scouts 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 page
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