Balmor, Battlemage Captain
Legendary Creature — Bird Wizard
Flying
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain trample until end of turn.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- RU
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Dominaria United
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #2131
Balmor, Battlemage Captain turns every instant and sorcery into a pump spell for your whole attacking team — cast three spells in a turn and you're swinging for massive damage out of nowhere. The cost is real: at two mana he's efficient, but he demands a deck built almost entirely around noncreature spells, which limits your threat density. Narset, Enlightened Exile decks are his natural home, but any blue-red spell-slinger that can flood the board with tokens will close games fast with him in play.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Narset, Enlightened Exile
Narset, Enlightened Exile rewards casting spells from exile and the graveyard, and Balmor, Battlemage Captain converts that constant spell output into a lethal pump engine — every rebound or flashback trigger adds another +1/+1 and trample to the attacking board.
Bria, Riptide Rogue
Bria, Riptide Rogue cares about casting spells to generate Faerie tokens and attack, so Balmor, Battlemage Captain slots in as the payoff that makes each token disproportionately dangerous the more spells you chain together.
Elsha, Threefold Master
Elsha, Threefold Master lets you cast spells from the top of your library, generating an unusually high spell count per turn, and Balmor, Battlemage Captain turns that velocity into a game-ending combat step.
Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot
Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot builds around cheap noncreature spells and gives attackers prowess, making Balmor, Battlemage Captain a redundant pump effect that stacks directly with her own triggers for explosive damage.
Riku of Many Paths
Riku of Many Paths copies instants and sorceries, and each copy counts as a spell cast for Balmor, Battlemage Captain — doubling up on cantrips or interaction can translate into double-digit power swings in a single combat.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Balmor, Battlemage Captain is a high-ceiling payoff for Izzet spell-slinger decks that can consistently cast three or more spells per turn — he's not a generalist include, but in the right shell he closes games fast. In Modern and Pioneer he's legal but faces stiff competition from more format-tuned two-drops; aggressive blue-red shells rarely need a combat-centric lord when burn finishes games more reliably. Legacy and Vintage have the raw spell density to abuse him, though the formats move too fast for a creature-dependent win condition to hold up consistently. Standard legality gives him the most accessible on-ramp — if a tokens-plus-spells archetype emerges there, Balmor, Battlemage Captain is a natural centerpiece.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Current pricing data for Balmor, Battlemage Captain isn't available here, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the live number before buying. As a Commander-focused rare with a narrow but dedicated audience, he typically sits in the budget-to-mid range and is worth picking up if you're building any blue-red spell-slinger deck.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.