Core Synergy
Baral, Chief of Compliance
Legendary Wizards
One of the cleanest low-cost ways to raise the threshold.
- Role
- Cheap Legendary Wizard
- Set
- MUL
Commander IntelligenceMarket trends
Gandalf, Party Guest
Coverage4 out of 5Based on strategy, synergy, version, and market-intelligence coverage.Support cards22 cards
Gandalf asks for cheap legendary Wizards, enough mana to cast him before combat, protection for the threshold, and high-impact spells that are useful when cast during the combat step.
- Color identity
- R / U / W
- Deck role
- raw: free-casting
- Game plan
- Establish Jeskai mana and inexpensive legendary Wizards before committing Gandalf.
Commander Market Snapshot
Gandalf, Party Guest evidence snapshot
- Player signal
- Build legendary Wizard density first, then choose spells by threshold: one legendary Wizard casts mana value 2 or less, three legendary Wizards reaches mana value 6, and five reaches mana value 10.
- Market status
- No mature market trend is assigned.
- Latest intelligence
- · Wizard's Staff Is a Best Seller — Supply Stays Deep · 5 reports
- Version context
- Gandalf is HOC #2, a borderless scene card tied to Crack the Plates Scene Box and Collector Booster distribution.
- Price · TCGplayer / NeoPrice
- Storm-Kiln Artist (TDC) · $3.31
- Inventory · CardTrader
- Storm-Kiln Artist (TDC) · 113 tracked copies
- Pricing Confidence
- Price confidenceHigh Confidence
- Market observation
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Check the strongest synergy, reviewed combo, market signal, and recent update currently supported by this page.
Market Watch
Storm-Kiln Artist
Magecraft Treasure payoff
Storm-Kiln Artist: growing inventory over the 24h window (+92%).
- NeoPrice
- $3.31
- Inventory
- 113 copies
Recent Intelligence
Cadric Spiked 330% — Hobbit Legends Keep Feeding It
Cadric has moved from roughly four dollars into the high teens because Thorin, Gandalf, and other legend-heavy decks keep finding reasons to copy their best legendary permanents.
- Updated
- Sep 2, 2026
Commander Overview
How This Commander Plays
Gandalf turns a gathering of legendary Wizards into free magic. At the beginning of each combat on your turn, their combined presence determines how large an instant or sorcery you may cast from your hand without paying its mana cost. This is legendary-Wizard spellslinger, not a generic Wizard lord: protect the count, choose combat-window spells carefully, and keep prerelease market checks separate.
Core Game Plan
- Establish Jeskai mana and inexpensive legendary Wizards before committing Gandalf.
- Resolve Gandalf before the beginning-of-combat step so the trigger exists.
- Protect enough legendary Wizards to hold the mana-value threshold you need.
- Cast a proactive instant or sorcery from hand while the trigger resolves.
- Use spell payoffs, hand refill, and cast triggers to turn the free spell into pressure.
- Create extra combats, extra turns, copied triggers, or legal Gandalf copies for more casts.
- Finish with big spells, extra turns, theft, token armies, Approach of the Second Sun, or verified non-Gandalf-required combos.
Key Mechanics
raw: free-castingraw: legendary-Wizard thresholdraw: beginning-of-combat triggersraw: alternative-cost rulesraw: extra combatsmagecraft
Build Paths
Play cheap legendary Wizards, resolve Gandalf before combat, and cast useful spells for free.
This is the primary plan because Gandalf counts legendary Wizards rather than all Wizards.Raise the threshold to six, eight, or ten mana value, then cast haymaker instants and sorceries from hand.
The spell still needs to be legal at resolution, with targets and mandatory additional costs handled.Use Harmonic Prodigy, Roaming Throne, Annie Joins Up, or copy artifacts to multiply the combat trigger.
Copied triggers calculate the legendary-Wizard count independently as each one resolves.Use extra combat or extra turn effects to create more beginning-of-combat steps on your turn.
Not every extra-combat spell works cleanly when cast during combat, so wording matters.No exact Commander Spellbook combo requiring Gandalf, Party Guest was verified. Surge to Victory plus Savage Beating is a Gandalf-enabled line only when Gandalf can cast Surge at threshold six, with Savage Beating in.
Research
Referenced in Research
NeoCardAlpha research that explicitly uses Gandalf, Party Guest as a commander, card, exact print, set, or supporting market check.
Commander ranking
The Hobbit MTG Commander Rankings & Market Forecast
Gandalf is a legendary-Wizard spellslinger commander: one Wizard is mana value two, three Wizards is mana value six, and copied combat triggers multiply the free-cast permissions.
Recent Intelligence
Referenced in Recent Intelligence
Recent reports that connected this page to player, deck, product, or market changes.
- Reports
- 5 reports
- First referenced
- Latest mention
Confirmed market signal
Wizard's Staff is selling heavily, but its price is barely moving and more than two thousand regular Hobbit copies remain available on Cardmarket. Gandalf, Party Guest is the clearest Commander driver, using the Equipment in 76% of current lists because it doubles the equipped creature's triggered abilities.
This commander was named in the trend.
Price movement
Cadric has moved from roughly four dollars into the high teens because Thorin, Gandalf, and other legend-heavy decks keep finding reasons to copy their best legendary permanents. The move has real sales behind it, but CardTrader seller depth still needs a fresh check before calling the card broadly scarce.
This commander was named in the trend.
Bilbo's Gambit can return a spell and shut off further spellcasting for the turn, but it shuts you off too. That makes it better in decks that can win through permanents or activated abilities than in decks that expect a long counterspell fight.
This commander was named in the trend.
Showing the latest 3 of 5 reports.
View all intelligence historyCommander Market Impact
Market checks tied to this commander
See which Commander-related cards are showing meaningful price, supply, liquidity, or marketplace changes.
22cards monitored8active signals7supply checks
Growing InventoryTDCStorm-Kiln ArtistWhy players care: Magecraft Treasure payoffMarket read: Storm-Kiln Artist: growing inventory over the 24h window (+92%).NeoPrice$3.31Inventory113 copiesPrice confidenceHigh Confidence
Growing InventorySTXArchmage EmeritusWhy players care: Magecraft drawMarket read: Archmage Emeritus: growing inventory over the 24h window (+83%).NeoPrice$2.48Inventory143 copiesPrice confidenceModerate Confidence
Growing InventoryCMMInsurrectionWhy players care: Mana value eight finisherMarket read: Insurrection: growing inventory over the 30d window (+80%).NeoPrice$16.69Inventory39 copiesPrice confidenceHigh ConfidenceRising PriceMULBaral, Chief of ComplianceWhy players care: Cheap legendary WizardMarket read: Baral, Chief of Compliance: rising price over the 30d window (+62%).NeoPrice$4.43Inventory34 copiesPrice confidenceHigh ConfidenceCards To Watch
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