Kris Mage
Creature — Human Spellshaper
, 
, Discard a card: This creature deals 1 damage to any target.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Mercadian Masques
- Price
- $0.21
- EDHREC rank
- #28723
Kris Mage turns any card in hand into a one-damage ping at the cost of one mana and a discard — repeatable, instant-speed, and on a 1/1 body for one red mana. It's a role-player, not a headliner: narrow enough to cut from most lists, good enough to run in the few decks that reward emptying their hand or turning discards into resources.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Kris Mage fits a specific niche — Anje Falkenrath, Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer, or any commander that wants cards in the graveyard and can recoup the card disadvantage. Outside that context, one damage per mana and card is too inefficient against 40-life totals. In Legacy and Vintage, it's a historical curiosity from an era before efficient one-drops were abundant; nothing about the current card pool rehabilitates it. Pauper is the most interesting case at common, but even there the damage output doesn't compete with burn spells that don't cost a card per activation.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.21 bulk tier
At $0.21, Kris Mage is deep bulk — you're buying it for a very specific build, not picking it up speculatively. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to move without a new commander printing that explicitly rewards the discard-to-ping loop.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.