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Gleeful Arsonist

Creature — Human Wizard

Whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, this creature deals damage equal to its power to that player.
Undying (When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it.)

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{R}
Color identity
R
Rarity
rare
Set
Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander
Price
$4.38
EDHREC rank
#2738
Buy on TCGplayer
Gleeful Arsonist card art
Gleeful Arsonist enters the battlefield and immediately deals damage to each opponent — no attack step required, no setup, just pressure the moment it resolves. The cost is a three-mana 2/2 with no evasion, so you're running it for the trigger, not the body; commanders like Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls and Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of Twilight that reward opponents taking damage on your turn make that trade unambiguously correct.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

02
The Lord of Pain

The Lord of Pain

45.3% of decks · synergy 0.34

The Lord of Pain translates opponent life loss directly into damage to all players, and Gleeful Arsonist's ETB ping to each opponent stacks that effect across the table the instant it lands.

03

Kuja, Genome Sorcerer

44.5% of decks · synergy 0.33

Kuja, Genome Sorcerer cares about dealing noncombat damage to opponents, and Gleeful Arsonist delivers that damage immediately on entry — no spells needed to activate the engine.

04

Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might

27.7% of decks · synergy 0.26

Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might replaces any red source dealing less than four damage with four, so Gleeful Arsonist's one-damage ping becomes a four-damage ping to each opponent the turn it enters.

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

Commander is where Gleeful Arsonist does its best work — three opponents means the ETB trigger is effectively dealing three damage spread across the table, which is a meaningful rate for a three-mana spell in a format full of life-loss payoffs. In Legacy and Vintage, Gleeful Arsonist is technically legal but competes against far more efficient threats and has no natural home in established strategies. Oathbreaker shares Commander's multiplayer structure, so the same life-loss synergy decks that want it there will want it here too. Outside those formats, the card simply isn't printed for those environments, so the Commander ecosystem is the only real conversation.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

6 decks
Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of TwilightAshnod's AltarGleeful Arsonist

Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of TwilightAshnod's AltarGleeful Arsonist

Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite colorless mana; Infinite death triggers; Infinite sacrifice triggers

View on Commander Spellbook ↗
5 decks
Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of TwilightPhyrexian AltarGleeful Arsonist

Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of TwilightPhyrexian AltarGleeful Arsonist

Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite colored mana; Infinite death triggers; Infinite sacrifice triggers

View on Commander Spellbook ↗
3 decks
Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of TwilightAltar of DementiaGleeful Arsonist

Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of TwilightAltar of DementiaGleeful Arsonist

Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite death triggers; Infinite mill; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite self-mill

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

$4.38 cheap tier

At $4.38, Gleeful Arsonist sits at the high end of the cheap tier — reasonable for a card that appears in over 26,000 Valgavoth decks alone, which is the kind of concentrated demand that holds a price floor. It's not a card you'd hesitate to buy for a life-loss deck, but don't expect it to drop significantly while Valgavoth remains popular.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

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