DimirLegendary Creature — Elf WizardJon Irenicus, Shattered One
Mana value4Rank#7,541
The Commander
At the beginning of your end step, target opponent gains control of up to one target creature you control. Put two +1/+1 counters on it and tap it. It's goaded for the rest of the game and it gains "This creature can't be sacrificed." (It attacks each combat if able and attacks a player other than you if able.)
Whenever a creature you own but don't control attacks, you draw a card.
Guide
Gameplan
Jon turns your own creatures into political weapons: each end step you donate a buffed, goaded creature to an opponent so it's forced to swing at the rest of the table while you draw a card. You play a Dimir control/value shell, feeding cheap or punishing creatures into the donation engine, watching opponents grind each other down, and closing with card-advantage-fueled control or a quiet combo finish.
Strengths
- Built-in repeatable card draw every turn just for using the commander's ability
- Goaded creatures can't be sacrificed and must attack other players, weaponizing your board against the rest of the table
- Strong political leverage—you decide who gets the threat, so you can steer aggression
- UB gives access to elite interaction, card filtering, and tutors to assemble whatever endgame you want
Weaknesses
- You actively hand creatures and +2/+2 of stats to opponents, which can backfire if they have ways to keep or sacrifice value
- Only one creature can be donated per end step, so the engine is slow to snowball
- Removing your commander shuts off the draw payoff entirely
- Vulnerable to fast combo and to opponents who simply ignore goad math and race you
Key Cards
- Grafted Exoskeleton — Slap infect on a creature, donate it, and the goaded attacker poisons your other opponents into a loss.
- Disrupt Decorum — Mass goad turns the whole table's boards (including the creatures you've handed out) into mutual destruction while you sit safe.
- Bident of Thassa — A second forced-attack and draw engine that stacks with Jon's donation plan.
- Endless Whispers — Lets you reclaim donated creatures on death and keep cycling them through the engine.
- Cyclonic Rift — Reset opponents' boards—including the threats you gave them—at instant speed for a blowout.
- Thassa's Oracle — A clean win after your draw engine has thinned and refilled the deck.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Sol Ring, Dimir Signet, mana rocks) and cheap tutors (Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Tainted Pact) to assemble your finisher faster, and lean into a tight infect or Thassa's Oracle kill so the draw engine has a payoff. Pack premium interaction—Cyclonic Rift, Mystic Confluence, counterspells—to protect Jon and answer the creatures opponents try to keep, and consider Endless Whispers or reanimation to recycle your best donation targets.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Poison opponents out with infect creatures donated and goaded into them (Grafted Exoskeleton, Glistening Oil)
- ▸Let goaded creatures and mass-goad effects whittle opponents down while you out-card and pick off survivors
- ▸Thassa's Oracle or Laboratory Maniac finish after your draw engine empties the library
- ▸Grind to a dominant control position and close with reusable threats or commander value
Archetypes
- Group Slug / Goad Politics — Donated, goaded creatures force opponents to attack each other while you draw and stay out of the crossfire.
- Donate Punisher — Give away creatures rigged with infect or downside auras so the recipient suffers for being forced to swing.
- Control — Endless card advantage plus UB removal and counters lets you grind out a long game and dictate the board.
- Combo — The draw engine reliably digs to compact finishers like Thassa's Oracle or poison kills.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BU), by popularity.
