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Summoner's Sending: How Inclusion Rate Elevates Win Probability
In the sprawling universe of Magic: The Gathering, the right card in the right moment can tilt a game from a grind to a victory lap. When we talk about inclusion rate—the frequency with which a card appears in decks across a given format—we’re really talking about a deck’s confidence equity: how often you can rely on a tool to generate advantage, pressure, or resilience. Summoner's Sending, a white enchantment from Final Fantasy Commander, offers a compact yet potent formula for lifting your winning odds when you include it thoughtfully in your build 🧙🔥. Its two-mana color commitment, its end-step deliverable, and the mana-value-driven buff on its produced Spirit token combine into a tempo-and-value engine that rewards strategic planning and steady execution.
What the card does, in plain terms
For {1}{W}, Summoner's Sending enters the battlefield as an enchantment with a very clean, evergreen line of play. At the beginning of your end step, you may exile a target creature card from a graveyard. If you choose to do so, you create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying. And here’s the kicker: if the exiled card’s mana value is 4 or greater, that Spirit gets a +1/+1 counter. That single line of text is the heart of its inclusion rate math. You’re not just making a body; you’re sculpting a token that scales based on what you pull from the yard — a mechanic that rewards decks with a well-curated graveyard presence and a willingness to lean into reanimation, recursion, or big-mana targets.
- Color and identity: White, mana cost {1}{W}, rarity rare. The aura of order and resilience that white embodies is reinforced by tokens with flying, a familiar ladder for leverage in combat or defense.
- Tempo with a twist: The activation happens at the end step, so you don’t overextend into your opponent’s play—yet you push your plan forward, bringing a fresh threat or blocker into your next turn. The flying Spirit helps swing or block, depending on the board state.
- Mana-value dependency: The “larger exiled card = bigger buff” mechanic means your inclusion rate should be tethered to how you curate your graveyard and your exile targets. If your deck cycles high-mmana targets or tutors recursively, Summoner's Sending scales with your choices.
Flavor text aside, the card’s lore nod—“The sending takes them to the Farplane, where they may rest in peace.”—lands with a thematic wink in any deck that plays with graveyards, spirits, or farewell-to-battle motifs. The art by Yumi Yaoshida and the card’s Final Fantasy Commander branding add a collectible aura that fans remember long after the game clock ticks down ⚔️🎨.
Inclusion rate as a lever for win probability
Consider inclusion rate as a dial you tune based on your meta and your personal play style. With Summoner's Sending, you’re not simply adding a token-maker—you’re building a responsive engine that rewards two kinds of decisions: what you exile, and when you exile it. Here’s how the dial shifts your odds in practical terms:
- Graveyard-rich strategies: If your deck routinely interacts with the graveyard—think reanimation spells, self-mostering value engines, or token-support synergies—the inclusion of Summoner's Sending becomes a way to convert those interactions into persistent board presence. Every end step becomes an opportunity to generate a fresh Spirit and possibly buff it, creating a rolling line of threats that your opponents must answer.
- High-mana targets as fuel: When your exiled creature cards tend to have mana value 4 or greater, you compound the buff. A single big creature exiled late in the game can yield multiple productive Spirit tokens across several turns, nudging a narrow win condition into a guaranteed push.
- Tempo and board control: The token’s flying evasion lets you dodge ground-based removal and pressure opponents who rely on ground stoppers or life-total tactics. The end-step trigger means you’re stacking value for your next turn, not chasing after a reactive play in the heat of the moment 🧙🔥.
- Safety net in a singleton format: In Commander, where you typically run a single copy of a card, Summoner's Sending earns value by being a consistent, scalable engine rather than a one-off trick. The more you see it in your 100-card landscape, the higher its practical inclusion rate and the steadier your win probability becomes in the long game.
However, this is not a card for every white deck, and that’s where inclusion rate becomes a strategic question. If your graveyard is thin, or your deck fights to assemble the components for bigger plays, Summoner's Sending may become a gentle tempo engine rather than a reliable game plan. It’s all about reading the table: are folks trading removal on your critical targets? Do you have enough card draw or recursion to ensure you’re exiling viable targets each round? If the answer is yes, the inclusion rate rises in value and your win probability benefits accordingly 💎⚔️.
Practical guidelines for deck builders
When you’re weighing inclusion, here are some practical checkpoints you can use to decide how deeply to lean into Summoner's Sending:
- Deck archetype alignment: Token-centric white decks, white-spirits synergy, or graveyard-reanimation shells are natural homes for this enchantment. If you’re running a more aggressive white weenie plan, the card still finds a niche by creating blockers or evasive pressure late in the game.
- Graveyard interaction: Do you have ways to influence what creature cards end up in the graveyard? If you’re relying on self-macabre or mill-style effects, Summoner's Sending becomes a reliable conversion engine.
- Exile targets and mana value considerations: Favor exiling larger creatures or cards with high mana values to unlock the +1/+1 counterting on your Spirit. If your meta includes many 2-3 mana bodies, you’ll need to work a bit harder to leverage the buff fully.
- Multiple vs. single copies (format considerations): In formats that allow multiple copies, you might experiment with 2–3 copies for a dedicated control-or-value shell. In Commander, you typically run one copy, and the card’s value comes from its consistency and the density of graveyard interactions in your deck.
Flavor with design and community reception
Beyond raw math, Summoner's Sending resonates with players because it embodies a classic white theme: turning the graveyard into a resource you can steward and redeploy. It’s a card that rewards thoughtful sequencing—the kind of micro-decision that MTG fans savor after countless hours of play. The artistry and flavor text reinforce the sense that you’re shepherding spirits home, which is both poetic and mechanically meaningful when you’re stacking flying threats that threaten to outpace an opponent’s defenses 🎨🧙.
“The last token might be the difference between a stalled board and a triumphant swing.”
From a collector perspective, the card’s rarity (rare) and its place in a crossover set add to its lure for fans of Final Fantasy and Commander players alike. The card’s availability in foil and nonfoil, plus its modern reprint footprint in a commander-focused release, keeps it relevant for long-term play and casual collection alike. For players who enjoy the social, ritual rhythm of end steps and graveyard play, Summoner's Sending offers both practical utility and narrative charm.