Gale, the prodigal wizard of Waterdeep, has appeared in one noteworthy game of late, but he’s also appeared inMagic: The Gathering’s Battle forBaldur’s Gate. In card form, Gale is a master manipulator of instants and sorceries, allowing you to cast one from your graveyard whenever you cast the other from your hand.
Essentially doubling the potency of your instants and sorceries is a powerful theme to build around for Magic’s casual Commander format, especially as many of the cards best paired with Gale are rather cheap. If you’re looking to get the most out of this wizard, these 10 cards will make Gale into a true god of Magic.
10A Background
Never start a campaign without one.
It probably goes without saying, but if you can start the game with what is essentially two commanders, you should. And sincea Background is basically a second commander(in enchantment form), you should definitely pair one with Gale.
The Background you choose for Gale will help define your deck’s colors and refine your overall strategy. There are quite a few potential Backgrounds that work well with Gale, including Raised by Giants, Guild Artisan, Candlekeep Sage, Inspiring Leader, and Passionate Archaeologist, butspecial consideration should be given to Scion of Halaster, which can help fill your graveyard with instants and sorceries to be re-cast using Gale’s ability.
9Curious Homunculus
Curiosity can kill, or it can become a killer.
Every wizard needs a Homunculus, and Gale shouldn’t be an exception. This particular Homunculusprovides a bit of rampfor your instants and sorceries in the early game, and then once you’ve cast a few of them, it becomes a terrifying Voracious Reader.
In its Eldrazi form, this Homunculus becomesboth a source of effective mana as well as a potential threatthanks to the Prowess keyword. Throw in Gale, and all those instants and sorceries just make Voracious Reader all the more dangerous.
8Narset, Parter of Veils
Only you should have all the cards.
Narset is a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you get to dig four cards deep and pick out the card that you really need. And then when you’ve done that twice,Naset tells every opponent that they can’t draw more than one cardevery turn.
The downside to Narset is thateveryone really likes drawing cards, and thus finds Narset’s presence somewhat dispiriting. You canexpect to receive a bit of hate for casting Narset, which should hopefully be offset by the two cards you pull from your deck.
7Talrand, Sky Summoner
To Drake, or not to Drake, that is the question.
Since Gale wants you to be playing as many instants and sorceries as possible, you’ll want to get the most out of those instants and sorceries by casting creatures that trigger whenever you cast an instant or sorcery. Enter Talrand, the Merfolk Wizard who willturn every instant and sorcery cast into a 2/2 flying Drake.
Talrand and other token generators likeMetallurgic Summonings,Murmuring Mystic, andSegemoor Witchare essential for Gale. They provide a base-line army to keep you safe and can laterbecome your victory condition with a little helpfrom a card further up this list. More on that later.
6Oriq Loremage
Warlocks and Wizards make a perfect pair.
If you go with Scion of Halaster as Gale’s background, you’ll want to consider Oriq Loremage. This Warlock is the perfect pairing for Gale, able totutor out an instant or sorcery to put in your graveyardfor Gale to cast. Better yet, Oriqgets bigger every time it tutors, making it an escalating threat.
Having access to black mana also means having access to a number of potent black sorceries, likeSyphon Mind,Tendrils of Agony, andBreach the Multiverse, plus all those instant-speed removal cards likeInfernal GraspandFeed the Swarm. If you’re splashing black with Gale, Oriq is a must-have card.
5See the Truth
The next best thing to Ancestral Recall.
No, See the Truthisn’t as good asAncestral Recalleven when it’s cast from your graveyard. But for those of us without thousands of dollars to spend on drawing three cards,See the Truth is pretty close.
With Gale as your Commander, you’re most likely to cast See the Truth first as a sorcery to dig three deep and pick one to put in your hand, but later, it’s justthree cards for two mana. Hard to argue with that sort of efficiency. Plus, you can grab this sorcery for a single dollar instead of $5,000.
4Wizards of Thay
Every good Wizard needs an entourage.
There are a number of great ways tomake your instants and sorceries cost less(Curious Homunculus being one of them), but the best of these cards in blue is probably Wizards of Thay.
These highly helpful Wizards not only make your instants and sorceries one mana cheaper, but they also let you cast yoursorceries at instant speed—a huge boon for control-focused decks of the type Gale is likely to head. On top of that, theMyriadkeyword means Wizards of Thay can multiply itself to attack more than one play, which willfurther reduce the price of any instants or sorceriesyou cast.
3Font of Magic
Grow stronger with each death.
Wizards of Thay is pretty great, but even better might be Font of Magic. Odds are Gale is going to die at least a few times every game, but with Font of Magic,each death makes your instants and sorceries cost one mana less.
Font of Magic caneasily stack three or even four times, reducing the cost of many instants and sorceries to just its colored mana symbols. That kind of mana reduction will outperform most mana rocks and let youcast some high-cost spells for a pittance.
2Candlekeep Inspiration
The kill card.
Remember Talrand and his ability to summon a bunch of Drakes whenever Gale re-casts an instant or sorcery?Candlekeep Inspiration turns those 2/2 Drakes into an army of giant flying monstersthat can single-handedly win the game.
Of note is that Candlekeep Inspiration doesn’t just look at your graveyard—it also looks at cards in exile, meaning Gale’s ability doesn’t reduce Candlekeep Inspiration’s power. The effect alsodoesn’t end at the end of your turn, giving you the flexibility to attack one opponent at a time if they also happen to have a few giant blockers on hand.
1Swarm Intelligence
For the swarm.
You’re already going to be casting a lot of instants and sorceries, and Gale will let you cast even more from your graveyard. Add in Swarm Intelligence, and you’ll be able todouble the spell you cast from your hand and the spell you cast from your graveyard. That’sfour spells for the price of two.
You’ll be better off pairing Swarm Intelligence with something like Talrand or Voracious Reader to turn all those spells into damage, but even without either of them,Swarm Intelligence provides multiplicative valueto every instant or sorcery cast. It’s hard to beat that kind of value.
