Shivan Sand-Mage
Creature — Lizard Shaman
When this creature enters, choose one —
• Remove two time counters from target permanent or suspended card.
• Put two time counters on target permanent with a time counter on it or suspended card.
Suspend 4—
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Time Spiral Remastered
- Price
- $0.13
- EDHREC rank
- #14892
Shivan Sand-Mage accelerates or rewinds suspend counters on any target permanent or spell — a unique effect that turns Jhoira of the Ghitu's delay into a resource rather than a drawback. The cost is a 3/3 body for four mana that does nothing outside suspend-heavy shells, making it a strict role-player with no generalist value.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Jhoira of the Ghitu
Jhoira of the Ghitu suspends everything for two mana, and Shivan Sand-Mage is the engine's throttle — removing counters to advance your threats a turn early or piling counters onto opponents' suspended spells to lock them out of their own gameplan.
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 |
Shivan Sand-Mage is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it sees meaningful play in exactly one place: Commander, specifically Jhoira of the Ghitu builds. In Legacy and Vintage, suspend synergy is too narrow and the body too small to compete with the density of threats and interaction in those formats. Modern has no suspend-centric shell worth sleeving it into. Commander is where the effect scales — multiple players, longer games, and a dedicated suspend commander make the counter manipulation genuinely impactful rather than a novelty.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.13 bulk tier
At $0.13, Shivan Sand-Mage is deep bulk — easy to acquire as a throw-in or cheap pickup for any Jhoira of the Ghitu build. Demand is too niche for the price to move meaningfully in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.