Thermo-Alchemist
Creature — Human Shaman
Defender
: This creature deals 1 damage to each opponent.
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, untap this creature.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Eldritch Moon
- Price
- $0.30
- EDHREC rank
- #1587
Thermo-Alchemist pings every opponent each time you cast an instant or sorcery — in a spell-heavy red deck, that's a damage engine that compounds fast. The cost is real: it enters tapped, dies to a stiff breeze, and does nothing the turn it lands, so it needs a deck built around it to justify the slot, but Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might turns every one of those pings into a minimum-4-damage shot and makes the justification trivial.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might replaces any source dealing less than 4 damage with exactly 4, so every Thermo-Alchemist trigger becomes a 4-damage ping regardless of the original value — a single spell cycle can close out a table.
Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph
Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph triggers whenever a source deals exactly 1 damage to a permanent or player, and Thermo-Alchemist's untriggered pings are precisely 1 damage each — Starn then adds 2 more, tripling the output for free.
Rakdos, Lord of Riots
Thermo-Alchemist deals damage to opponents on each spell cast, and Rakdos, Lord of Riots reduces the cost of creature spells by 1 for each life lost this way — a few spells into a turn can make even expensive demons effectively free.
Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot
Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot rewards dealing exactly 1 damage with a free cantrip, and Thermo-Alchemist is a repeatable 1-damage source on every instant or sorcery — the result is a card-draw engine stapled to your spell casting.
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell adds 2 to every red source's damage to opponents, turning each Thermo-Alchemist trigger from 1 to 3 damage and making even modest spell counts threatening in a single turn.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Thermo-Alchemist is a role-player, not a generalist — it belongs in dedicated spell-slinger or Izzet-style decks where casting four or more instants and sorceries per turn is the norm, and in those shells it punches well above its mana cost. Pauper is where it truly earns its reputation: the format's slower clock and abundance of cantrip-heavy blue-red shells let Thermo-Alchemist accumulate damage across many turns without getting outpaced, and it sees real competitive play there. In Modern and Pioneer, the bar for a 2-mana creature with no immediate impact is high enough that Thermo-Alchemist rarely makes the cut outside of fringe burn or combo brews. Legacy and Vintage have faster, more efficient damage sources, so it doesn't factor in those formats at all.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.30 bulk tier
At $0.30, Thermo-Alchemist is bulk — you'll find it in bulk boxes or pick up a playset for under $1.50 without issue. Demand is steady in Pauper and Commander but never spikey, so the price is unlikely to move unless a new synergy commander pushes it into 80%+ inclusion across a massive archetype.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
- Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph
- Rakdos, Lord of Riots
- Taii Wakeen, Perfect Shot
- Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.