Is Basim Ibn Ishaq good in Commander?

Basim Ibn Ishaq in Commander — Combos, Decks & Price

Basim Ibn Ishaq puts a free Assassin into play the moment a creature you control deals combat damage to a player — card advantage baked directly onto the board. The catch is a four-mana body that needs to survive a turn cycle, but in any deck running Ezio Auditore da Firenze, that payoff is worth protecting.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Ezio Auditore da Firenze

81.2% of decks · synergy 0.77

Ezio Auditore da Firenze's entire gameplan rewards connecting with opponents, and Basim Ibn Ishaq turns every successful hit into a free Assassin — the two cards form the core engine that most Ezio decks are built around.

02

Ratonhnhaké꞉ton

54.2% of decks · synergy 0.52

Ratonhnhaké꞉ton cares about going wide with creatures that deal combat damage, and Basim Ibn Ishaq generates additional bodies every time that happens, fueling the engine without spending extra cards.

03

Ramses, Assassin Lord

53.1% of decks · synergy 0.51

Ramses, Assassin Lord pumps the whole Assassin tribe, so every token Basim Ibn Ishaq produces enters as a relevant threat rather than a vanilla body.

04

Etrata, Deadly Fugitive

50.0% of decks · synergy 0.48

Etrata, Deadly Fugitive wants a steady stream of Assassins to send into combat, and Basim Ibn Ishaq replenishes that supply automatically each time a creature connects.

05

Edward Kenway

41.2% of decks · synergy 0.39

Edward Kenway rewards aggressive, damage-dealing gameplay across multiple combat steps, and Basim Ibn Ishaq converts each of those hits into a growing board presence at zero additional mana cost.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

Format	Verdict
commander	legal
legacy	legal
modern	legal
pioneer	not legal
standard	not legal
vintage	legal
pauper	not legal
oathbreaker	legal

Basim Ibn Ishaq is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but the card is built for Commander and rarely shows up elsewhere. In 60-card formats, a four-mana creature that generates tokens only on combat damage is too slow and conditional to compete, and neither Legacy nor Modern has an Assassin shell that wants it. Commander is where Basim Ibn Ishaq actually does work — specifically in Assassin tribal and combat-damage-matters builds where the token generation compounds turn after turn across a multi-player game.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$1.73 cheap tier

At $1.73, Basim Ibn Ishaq sits in the cheap tier — a straightforward pickup for any Assassin tribal deck that isn't already running it. Given its narrow tribal home and Commander-only relevance, the price is unlikely to climb unless a future set pushes Assassins into competitive territory.