MagicTheGathering.fyi

Agate Instigator

Creature — Lizard Rogue

Offspring {1}{R} (You may pay an additional {1}{R} as you cast this spell. If you do, when this creature enters, create a 1/1 token copy of it.)
Whenever another creature you control enters, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{1}{R}
Color identity
R
Rarity
rare
Set
Bloomburrow Commander
Price
$8.35
EDHREC rank
#1205
Buy on TCGplayer
Agate Instigator card art
Agate Instigator creates a copy of a creature token you control whenever you cast an instant or sorcery — the kind of repeatable token doubling that turns a single Storm Herd into an absurd board state on the spot. The cost is real: five mana is a lot to ask before the engine does anything, and Gev, Scaled Scorch decks are often the ones willing to pay it because the payoff integrates directly into their gameplan.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Gev, Scaled Scorch

Gev, Scaled Scorch

72.9% of decks · synergy 0.69

Gev, Scaled Scorch deals damage equal to the number of tokens you control whenever you cast an instant or sorcery, so Agate Instigator doesn't just copy tokens — it simultaneously inflates the damage Gev is already counting. The two cards are asking for the exact same trigger condition, making Agate Instigator a near-auto-include at 73% of Gev lists.

02
Zinnia, Valley's Voice

Zinnia, Valley's Voice

73.9% of decks · synergy 0.68

Zinnia, Valley's Voice generates tokens on top of her other abilities, and Agate Instigator turns every spell into a doubling event for those tokens. The synergy is direct enough that nearly 74% of Zinnia decks run it.

03
Norin the Wary

Norin the Wary

73.4% of decks · synergy 0.68

Norin the Wary flickers in and out constantly, and the token swarms that build around him benefit enormously from Agate Instigator copying each new arrival. Roughly 73% of Norin lists include it for exactly that reason.

04
Arabella, Abandoned Doll

Arabella, Abandoned Doll

40.6% of decks · synergy 0.34

Arabella, Abandoned Doll punishes opponents whenever you sacrifice or lose tokens, so Agate Instigator stacking extra copies means more fodder and more triggers. About 41% of Arabella decks run it as a force multiplier on the sacrifice loop.

05
Purphoros, God of the Forge

Purphoros, God of the Forge

39.3% of decks · synergy 0.34

Purphoros, God of the Forge pings each opponent for two whenever a creature enters, and Agate Instigator doubles the token entries per spell cast. That's roughly 39% inclusion in Purphoros lists, where every extra enters-the-battlefield trigger compounds the damage math quickly.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Agate Instigator is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but Commander is the only format where it does real work. In Legacy and Vintage, five mana for a do-nothing-until-you-cast-something enchantment doesn't compete with the speed of those formats. Commander is where Agate Instigator belongs: multiplayer games go long enough that you'll recoup the mana investment, and the token-doubling effect scales with exactly the kind of wide strategies that dominate the format. In Oathbreaker it's playable in the right shell, though the faster game pace makes it a conditional include.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

If five mana feels steep, Doubling Season and Parallel Lives do the same token-doubling math for any source — not just instants and sorceries — though both carry higher price tags than Agate Instigator. For a true budget swap, Primal Vigor gives the same token-doubling effect for around a dollar, with the trade-off that opponents benefit too; it's the cleaner budget replacement when you need the effect cheaply and your table isn't likely to punish you for it.

Price Context

Current price

$8.35 mid tier

At $8.35, Agate Instigator sits in the mid tier — affordable enough to justify the slot in any deck that wants it, expensive enough that you should be confident the token-doubling is central to your gameplan before buying in. It's a narrow-enough card that its price is driven almost entirely by the decks listed above; outside those archetypes, there's no reason to chase it.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.