Ingenious Prodigy
Creature — Human Wizard
Skulk (This creature can't be blocked by creatures with greater power.)
This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if this creature has one or more +1/+1 counters on it, you may remove a +1/+1 counter from it. If you do, draw a card.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Wilds of Eldraine Promos
- Price
- $3.31
- EDHREC rank
- #3270
Ingenious Prodigy enters with X +1/+1 counters and proliferates on entry — the board impact scales with however much mana you pour in, and the cost is just a two-mana floor that rewards late-game mana dumps. In any deck that cares about counters or proliferate triggers, Ingenious Prodigy is a payoff and an enabler stapled together; Zimone, Infinite Analyst decks in particular run it in nearly three-quarters of lists for a reason.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Zimone, Infinite Analyst
Zimone, Infinite Analyst draws a card whenever you proliferate, so Ingenious Prodigy's enters-the-battlefield proliferate converts mana into cards while also growing the board — it's one of the cleanest single-card engines in the deck.
Primo, the Unbounded
Primo, the Unbounded rewards you for putting counters on creatures in ways that compound across the table, and Ingenious Prodigy delivers a burst of counters plus a proliferate trigger in one spell, making it a double trigger for Primo's payoffs.
Magus Lucea Kane
Magus Lucea Kane copies spells with X in their cost, so Ingenious Prodigy effectively doubles its counter output — a single cast with enough mana can put a staggering number of counters on board across two creatures.
Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus
Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus doubles every proliferate trigger, so Ingenious Prodigy's on-entry proliferate becomes two proliferates the moment Tekuthal is on the field, accelerating any counter-based engine immediately.
Zaxara, the Exemplary
Zaxara, the Exemplary generates a Hydra token whenever you cast a spell with X in its cost, so Ingenious Prodigy produces a free creature in addition to its own counter payload — two threats for the price of one spell.
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 |
Ingenious Prodigy is legal across every major format except Pauper, but Commander is where it actually earns a slot. In 60-card formats like Modern and Pioneer it competes against more efficient counter-payoffs and rarely makes the cut outside dedicated proliferate brews. Commander's longer games and abundance of counter-synergy commanders make Ingenious Prodigy a genuine role-player — the X cost scales into the late game when mana floods are common, and the enters-the-battlefield proliferate means it does work even without a huge mana investment.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$3.31 cheap tier
At $3.31, Ingenious Prodigy sits in a comfortable budget tier — cheap enough to slot into any proliferate or counters build without a second thought. Demand is anchored by its outsized role in Zimone, Infinite Analyst and other high-synergy commanders, so the price is unlikely to crater.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.