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Heat Shimmer

Sorcery

Create a token that's a copy of target creature, except it has haste and "At the beginning of the end step, exile this token."

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{R}
Color identity
R
Rarity
rare
Set
Double Masters
Price
$8.35
EDHREC rank
#3298
Buy on TCGplayer
Heat Shimmer card art
Heat Shimmer creates a hasty token copy of any creature — your own or an opponent's — at instant speed for three mana, and that alone earns its slot. The real reason it's in so many lists is the Dualcaster Mage combo: flash Dualcaster Mage in response to Heat Shimmer targeting anything, copy Heat Shimmer, copy Dualcaster Mage, repeat until you have an arbitrarily large board; pair with Etali, Primal Conqueror and that board attacks for game-ending free casts.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Etali, Primal Conqueror

69.6% of decks · synergy 0.66

Etali, Primal Conqueror attacks and casts opponents' spells for free, so doubling it with Heat Shimmer means two attack triggers — potentially four or more stolen spells in a single combat — which is frequently enough to close the game on the spot.

02
The Master, Multiplied

The Master, Multiplied

40.8% of decks · synergy 0.38

The Master, Multiplied cares about having multiple copies of itself and other creatures, and Heat Shimmer drops an extra The Master token with haste that immediately applies its own doubling math before the end-step cleanup.

03
Krark, the ThumblessSakashima of a Thousand Faces

Krark, the Thumbless // Sakashima of a Thousand Faces

34.5% of decks · synergy 0.33

Krark, the Thumbless // Sakashima of a Thousand Faces runs as many instants and sorceries as possible and stacks multiple Krark triggers for cascading coin-flip value; Heat Shimmer is both a spell that triggers those flips and a way to copy Krark itself for even more chaotic redundancy.

04
Deadpool, Trading Card

Deadpool, Trading Card

33.2% of decks · synergy 0.31

Deadpool, Trading Card generates value from tokens dying and re-entering, and Heat Shimmer supplies a hasty copy that attacks, blocks, or triggers abilities before going to the graveyard at end of turn — exactly the disposable creature action Deadpool rewards.

05
Zada, Hedron Grinder

Zada, Hedron Grinder

24.4% of decks · synergy 0.21

Zada, Hedron Grinder copies single-target spells for every creature you control, and Heat Shimmer targeting Zada causes each creature to get its own hasty duplicate — which is a full board doubling for three mana and one card.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Commander is the format Heat Shimmer was built for: singleton rules make the Dualcaster Mage combo a single-card addition rather than a four-of requirement, and the multiplayer table means a hasty Etali, Primal Conqueror copy attacks into three opponents simultaneously. In Legacy and Vintage, Heat Shimmer is legal but rarely played — three mana is slow against interaction-dense environments where Sneak Attack and Phantasmal Image do adjacent things cheaper or more resiliently. Modern legality is technically true but practically irrelevant; the card sees almost no Modern play. Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper are off the table entirely. Oathbreaker is a natural home for the same reasons Commander is: powerful creatures are the axis, and Heat Shimmer scales directly with the power of whatever it copies.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Twinflame does most of what Heat Shimmer does for one less mana — it also completes the Dualcaster Mage loop and costs under $1 — but it requires a creature you control as the target, so you lose the ability to copy an opponent's threat. Delina, Wild Mage is a creature-based alternative that repeatedly creates copies on attack and costs around $1, though it trades instant-speed flexibility for repeatability and doesn't slot into the same clean two-card combo line.

Price Context

Current price

$8.35 mid tier

At $8.35, Heat Shimmer sits in the mid tier — justified by its status as a combo piece that doubles as a standalone threat, not just a one-trick enabler. The price is stable rather than speculative: it's been in consistent demand since the Dualcaster Mage interaction became widely understood, and there's no obvious cheaper reprint sitting in the format that undercuts its role.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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