Lighthouse Chronologist
Creature — Human Wizard
Level up 
(: Put a level counter on this. Level up only as a sorcery.)
LEVEL 4-6
2/4
LEVEL 7+
3/5
At the beginning of each end step, if it's not your turn, take an extra turn after this one.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Price
- $15.71
- EDHREC rank
- #12437
Lighthouse Chronologist gives you an extra turn every turn once it's leveled up — the most powerful continuous effect a single creature can generate in Commander. The cost is real: seven level counters means at least three to four mana across multiple turns before it does anything, and it dies to any removal spell before it gets there.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus
Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus doubles proliferate triggers, which means every proliferate spell or ability drops two level counters onto Lighthouse Chronologist instead of one — cutting the setup window roughly in half and making the payoff land before opponents can answer it.
Azami, Lady of Scrolls
Azami, Lady of Scrolls taps Wizards for card draw, and Lighthouse Chronologist is a Wizard — so it replaces itself in the tap step while you're still leveling it up, letting the deck play around the slow-roll 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 |
Commander is where Lighthouse Chronologist actually lives — extra turns are maximally broken in a four-player pod, and the slow level-up cost is more survivable when opponents are spread thin attacking each other. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but irrelevant; seven mana spread across multiple turns is a luxury those formats don't allow, and the payoff isn't worth the setup when Temporal Manipulation and Time Walk exist. Oathbreaker is the one other format worth noting: if your planeswalker generates proliferate or +1/+1 synergies, Lighthouse Chronologist can come online faster, but the format's lower life totals mean opponents are more incentivized to remove it early.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
There's no clean budget replacement for what Lighthouse Chronologist does — continuous extra turns on a creature body is a unique effect — but Seedborn Muse at a lower price point approximates the tempo advantage by untapping your permanents on every opponent's untap step, which generates comparable action without needing to resolve a level-up clock. If the goal is specifically extra turns rather than the Wizard body, Part the Waterveil and Temporal Trespass are one-shot spells under $1 that don't require protecting a creature across multiple turns.
Price Context
Current price
$15.71 mid tier
At $15.71, Lighthouse Chronologist sits in the mid tier — expensive enough to feel the sting if it gets Path to Exiled on turn three, but priced appropriately for a card with a genuinely unique effect. It's held this range consistently because the demand is narrow and specific rather than broad, so don't expect significant movement in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.