Magus of the Arena
Creature — Human Wizard
, 
: Tap target creature you control and target creature of an opponent's choice they control. Those creatures fight each other. (Each deals damage equal to its power to the other.)
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Planar Chaos
- Price
- $0.25
- EDHREC rank
- #24935
Magus of the Arena turns any creature you control into a removal spell — tap, pay three, and whatever it fights either dies or trades. The cost is real: five mana to cast, then three more mana and a tap each activation means you need a dedicated engine to get more than one use per turn cycle.
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 Magus of the Arena actually sees play — three opponents means three threat pools to pick apart, and the repeated activation value across a long game justifies the setup cost. In Legacy and Vintage it's unplayable; those formats end before a five-mana do-nothing-on-entry creature ever untaps, and neither format lacks better creature removal. Modern is technically legal but practically irrelevant for the same reasons — the format is too fast and too efficient for this kind of grind. Oathbreaker shares Commander's multiplayer structure, so the same logic applies at a compressed power level where Magus of the Arena can punch above its weight.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.25 bulk tier
At $0.25, Magus of the Arena is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not scarcity. It's unlikely to appreciate; the effect is strong in the right shell but narrow enough that demand stays low and supply stays high.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.