Hello awesome Commander fans! Spellslinger is one of the most beloved archetypes in our format, and there is an uncommon leader that was just printed in Dominaria United that brings a new way of brewing that archetype.

Which one?

Najal! This hard to cast five-drop 5/4 gives your sorcery stuff flash. That alone is worth a Command Zone slot as there are tons of sorceries to really enjoy at instant speed. From Ponder to Insurrection there are tons of Izzet sorceries that would love to be instant speed. Remember that we are Spellslinger, so we want to emphasize our instant and sorcery count to net triggers of things to win the game, like Guttersnipe.

Then as you attack with Najal you can spend two mana and copy your next instant or sorcery. Note that this lacks evasion, so we'll want to add in some ways to be unblockable so that we can reliably get this attack trigger turn after turn without the possibility of dying, which introduces another winning condition here, Commander damage. As of the writing of this there are only 39 decks written over at EDHREC.com so there is not a big official canon to write against, so I am just winging it.

Cool Sorceries to Flash Out

I don't normally add in five turn spells into my Spellslinger brews, but they are much more important and valuable here. First of all, a Time Walk that is cast at instant speed is really strong. Secondly, you can fork it to get two Time Walks for just two more mana. Thirdly, they will let you get in another attack with Najal for killing players with Commander damage, so they are basically fancy Relentless Assaults that cantrip.

I added in the classic Warp as well as the similarly costed Temporal Manipulation. Then I tossed in the Standard-dominating Epiphany. I also tossed in Beacon of Tomorrows, which can get recast if you draw it again and Part the Waterveil, which can be upgraded to make a beater.

I tossed in this fun X sorcery. You can cast one instant and then one sorcery from your graveyard each with a cost of X or less, so if you did this for three, you could cast Chaos Warp as your instant and Ponder as your sorcery from your graveyard - that's three Guttersnipe in one spell.. If you tapped out and put at least 10 into this X then you'll get 6 spells cast, which is three for Guttersnipes and 7 for magecrafts. Nasty. Love it loads here.

Key Triggers and Win Cons

Now let's turn to some magecraft triggers. These classics will trigger for the casting of spells as well as the copying of those things as well. The Wizards turns magecraft into drawing a card. The Shaman is a 2/2 that will turn magecraft into a Treasure to sacrifice for the ramping of your big stuff. Then you can also get +1 power for each artifact you control, and with equipment and Treasures and mana rocks that could be a little bit here and there. Nice duo, and they are played in most Izzet Spellslinger brews, but their added magecraft synergies here are great. The next two are not so heavily played, but are nice game winners.

Two mono-Blue game winners. The former is a big 10-drop 8/8 with ward 8, so basically hexproof. This has a magecraft trigger of making a dork an 8/8 for the turn, and I like that with your leader as you can kill in just three punches with Commander damage, or with your Guttersnipe. Then you can drop its cost to just two if you have 8 or more instants and sorceries in your graveyard, quite likely as the game goes on. I'm not running a bunch of recursion and just one flashback spell, so that's actually likely here.

The latter rare is a 5-drop 3/3 with two abilities. It can magecraft and make a X/X dork, where X is the casting cost of the spell that was cast or copied. Copies keep their mana cost, so if you cast Fact or Fiction after attacking with Najal, then you'll get two 4/4s. Then you can activate this for four mana to make one of your token guys unblockable for the turn, so it can make your 8/8 token from Octavia or your or your tokens that you made with this card to get in wins. This makes a bunch of fatter dorks to swing with and get in those wins, plus the unblockable'ing.

Ral! This 4 loyalty planeswalker is pretty strong here. When you cast or copy an instant or sorcery, you shoot a target foe for or their planeswalker for a damage. This just deals one, and only have one target, so it's basically a Blood Artist. Also note that you can give a nice sized +2 to scry 1 for card flow and then -2 and copy your next instant or sorcery you cast, which will trigger Ral and your magecraft stuff. You can copy twice with its starting loyalty.

Voltron'y Stuff

And now let's add in more ways to make things unblockable! I am running the obvious Rogue's Passage and Whispersilk Cloak as well as these two uncommon pieces of equipment.

The Boots are two to equip and cast and then your Najal won't be able to be blocked if your foe controls a nonbasic land, likely, even in mono-colored brews. The Helm costs the same and means the equipped dork cannot be blocked by anything save for Walls, which is pretty likely at the kitchen table barring the rare Fog Bank or Wall of Omens. Unlikely in most modern brews.

Don't drop one of these three equipment if you are running another, since you only have three, and you don't want to two of your game winners to get swept by an opposing sweeper. Enjoy the unblockable fun times here! If your leader is answered, just use this on the magecraft game winners we looked at before. I am also running Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots, which are not that common in Spellslinger brews, since I want to swing with my leader and protect it from targeted removal.

Next up are some one-cost cantrips that can get an unblockable dork out of nowhere or can be forked to draw two cards when digging for answers or problems: Slip Through Space and Shadow Rift. The sorcery will make it unblockable and draw you a card. The instant will give it shadow to make it unblockable by anything other than fellow shadow enabled dorks, as well as a combat trick for blocking a shadow laden attack out of nowhere.

Answers

I am also running some sorcery speed mass removal answers that you can flash out when they are really needed. The Burn deals 5 damage to all creatures and planeswalkers and you can flash it out to answer hasted dorks that attack you out of nowhere with equipment like Lightning Greaves. I also like this instantly to make three blockers from the attack that just came your way and then survive. Note that this will sweep your leader, but you can save your leader if you make it 8/8 with the Living Thesis.

The Act is a rarely 9-costing option that sweep for 13, so that's pretty much everything but doesn't hit planeswalkers. This costs one fewer for each creature anyone controls, so it's usually 5 or 6 mana to sweep the board, and often just a single mana or two. I love sweeping removal at the end of your foe's turn, and then you untap and use your full mana normally. I also have Cyclonic Rift and Mizzium Mortars and I love that the Mortars here at instant speed when overloaded.

Since we have copy-matters triggers with my magecraft and Ral, I figured I would add some more Forks and synergies to my brews. The enchantment lets you copy your first instant/sorcery you cast each turn, so that can be up to four free copies on each turn in a four-player game, and remember that with your sorceries flashing, you can cast that Ponder or Deep Analysis on your foe's turn and get a free copy, so that has enhanced synergy here. The creature has flash and is a 2/2 Wizard. On arrival to the battlefield, it can copy an instant or sorcery that anyone controls, and then can attack, block, or get turned into an 8/8 with your Elemental Octopus. Good stuff!

Check out Twinning Staff! When you would copy a spell? Copy it again! That works wonders with the 2-mana attack trigger of Najal. You can net two copies for two mana, so even a simple Opt will draw you three times and trigger magecraft three times. And then you can tap this for a massive seven mana to copy an instant and sorcery spell of yours yourself and then you trigger it for another copy. Now, to be fair, that's a lot of mana, but it works.

Card Flow

I added in some card draw of the sorcery speed X persuasion. I really like doing this at the end of your foe's turn and tapping out and drawing a ton of cards and then untapping and using them. The second Finale cycle card in our deck will tap and draw X and then if that X is 10 or more, you'll shuffle your graveyard into your brew, draw, untap 5 lands, and then have no max hand size, and this exiles on casting so you cannot cast it later or count for the cost reduction of a certain Living Thesis. Then the Spring will tap and draw you X and then you can just keep on trucking.

Most of my other card draw is obvious like Ponder and Deep Analysis. But not this pair. The rare is a 4-drop that has three options like a Charm, which in a brew with all of these cantrips and card drawers could be pretty strong. Then you can kick It for 4 mana and get all three in that order. And here you can do it at the end of a turn, or double bounce in response to someone attacking you. It's a power upgrade at instant speed.

The uncommon is a two-cost sorcery that draws you two and discards one unless you attacked this turn. Ideally you want to swing with Najal; activate for two, cast this in your second main phase, and then draw four cards for four mana. Nice synergy here, right? Also, don't sleep on it on a foe's turn to dig two and keep one, since you can cast it with Finale or get another card in your graveyard for Octavia or discard a land after your mana is set or discard Deep Analysis to flash back for two mana this turn, and you spent four mana for three net cards.

Mana, Ramping, Cost Reductions and Lands

Let's turn to ramping, land, and cost reductions. The Goggles are a five-drop mana rock that taps for Red and then you can use that for anything, but if you used it for a Red instant or sorcery you get a copy to trigger your magecraft stuff.

Jaya is a 5 loyalty planeswalker with a difficult casting cost, but two +1 abilities. She is here for that +1 to make triple mana. You cannot use her to make the activate Najal's triggered ability, but you can use them on the spell you are about to copy. Love her with this brew. You can also +1 her to discard and draw that amount, so later you can discard lands or Deep Analysis or more to draw. Once you've cast her you likely have at least 5 lands and three red so discarding your extra lands for cards is nice gas.

Chandra is the final planeswalker in my brew. She is a 4 cost, four loyalty, 4 ability dork also with two +1s. Her first +1 will Impulse draw the top card of your library and cast it this turn (triggers if a sorcery or instant). Then if not you can shoot your foes for two each, so she combines a win-con in a card draw ability. She's in this brew for that other +1 to make mana and unlike Jaya her mana can be used anywhere for anything. Then she can -3 to Lightning Blast a dork so she adds to your creature removal section.

The land is a Blue color identity one that can tap for two mana to bounce a Wizard you control. Your Commander is a Wizard so you can bounce it in response to removal. Most of the dorks here are randomly Wizards as well, so you can bounce them as well. There is also the Dualcaster Mage to bounce and Fork with over and over again.

Let's turn to some cost reducers. The Wizards are a 4-cost 3/3 with three abilities. First, they can give your sorceries flash, so if Najal has been answered, they serve as a backup. Then you can drop the cost of your instants and sorceries by one each. Then you can attack one player with your unblockable infrastructure, and then make an attacking copy token on each foe (Deekah synergy to make unblockable), and then cast the instant or sorcery in your hand for a cost reduction of three in combat, so that's pretty strong here. And then the Djinn is a 3-drop X/4 with flying, where X is your graveyard count of instants and sorceries, which, as we've talked about before, count be quite high here. Then you can drop your instant/sorcery cost by one, and this is game winner in mana cost reduction. I am also running the obvious Goblin Electromancer here as well. Don't drop more than one of these since we only have three in the brew.

Ready for the decklist? Alons-y!

Flash Those Sorceries | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Najal, the Storm Runner

• Creatures (14)
• 1 Archmage Emeritus
• 1 Deekah, Fractal Theorist
• 1 Dualcaster Mage
• 1 Goblin Electromancer
• 1 Guttersnipe
• 1 Haughty Djinn
• 1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
• 1 Octavia, Living Thesis
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Storm-Kiln Artist
• 1 Talrand, Sky Summoner
• 1 Wayrand, Voice of Duality
• 1 Wizards of Thay
• 1 Young Pyromancer

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
• 1 Jaya Ballard
• 1 Ral, Storm Conduit

• Instants (16)
• 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Cryptic Command
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Comet Storm
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Fact or Fiction
• 1 Ionize
• 1 Jwari Disruption // Wjari Ruins
• 1 Negate
• 1 Opt
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Prismari Command
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Shadow Rift
• 1 Silundi Vision // Silundi Isle

• Sorceries (19)
• 1 Alrund's Epiphany
• 1 Beacon of Tomorrows
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Burn Down the House
• 1 Chart a Course
• 1 Deep Analysis
• 1 Finale of Promise
• 1 Finale of Revelation
• 1 Inscription of Insight
• 1 Insurrection
• 1 Mind Spring
• 1 Mizzium Mortars
• 1 Part the Waterveil
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Serum Visions
• 1 Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass
• 1 Slip Through Space
• 1 Temporal Manipulation
• 1 Time Warp

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Double Vision
• 1 Thousand-Year Storm

• Artifacts (12)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Everflowing Chalice
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Prowler's Helm
• 1 Pyromancer's Goggles
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Trailblazer's Boots
• 1 Twinning Staff
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak
• 1 Worn Powerstone

• Lands (33)
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Izzet Boilerworks
• 1 Molten Tributary
• 1 Mystic Sanctuary
• 1 Riptide Laboratory
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Shivan Reef
• 1 Spirebluff Canal
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Stormcarved Coast
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 1 Temple of Epiphany
• 1 Training Center
• 10 Island
• 10 Mountain

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And there we go! I hope that you enjoyed my decklist! I tossed in three modal spell/lands to round out my spell selection. What did you think of my Najal brew? Just let me know in the comments below!