Key Takeaway
Gandalf the White in Magic: The Gathering has Flash, which lets you cast it as if it were an Instant. On top of that, when it’s on the battlefield, you can do the same for any other legendary spell or any Artifact (even non-legendary ones).
This card’s second effect lets you retrigger the abilities of certain cards when legendary permanents or Artifacts of any kind enter or leave the battlefield.
For the most part, you can buy playable versions of Gandalf the White for between $5 and $30. However, collectible variants can cost up to $2,000.
If you want to enhance your legendary spells in Magic: The Gathering, call on everyone’s favorite Tolkien wizard for help! Using Gandalf the White in MTG allows you to cast certain cards at different times than usual and lets you trigger useful abilities more than once. Dispell the darkness!
Table Of Contents
What Is Gandalf the White in MTG?
Gandalf the White is a Legendary Creature—Avatar Wizard with 4 power and 5 toughness that has a mana value of two white and three of any color. It has two effects in addition to Flash:
You may cast legendary spells and artifact spells as though they had flash.
If a legendary permanent or an artifact entering or leaving the battlefield causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Effect Explanation
To begin, Flash lets you cast any card as if it’s an Instant. Keep in mind, in most cases, Flash only lets spells that have this static keyword on them be cast as if they were Instants. A prime example is Gandalf the White, which has Flash.
This leads to Gandalf’s first effect. With this Legendary Creature on the battlefield, you can cast any legendary spell and Artifact as if they had Flash. Legendary spells refer to any spell that is classified as “legendary” in the type field (like with Gandalf). This includes all kinds of spells: Creatures, Sorceries, Enchantments, and so on (but not Lands, as they aren’t spells). On top of that, you can cast Artifacts this way as well—and they don’t need to be legendary to qualify.
Regarding Gandalf’s second effect, it boils down to “trigger a permanent’s ability one more time.” This can only happen if such an ability triggers upon a legendary permanent or any kind of Artifact entering or leaving the battlefield. Remember that all permanents are spells, but not all spells are permanents.
An Example of How Gandalf the White’s Second Effect Works
Let’s say you’re using a white and blue deck and have Elrond, Lord of Rivendell as well as Gandalf the White on the battlefield. If you cast a Legendary Creature (or any Creature) such as Bill the Pony, Elrond’s effect gets triggered.
Then, due to Gandalf’s second effect (which was activated thanks to Bill the Pony being a legendary permanent), Elrond’s effect gets triggered again. In turn, the latter part of Elrond’s effect is activated and The Ring Tempts You. Using the effects of The Ring Tempts You in this manner can give you an advantage.
We’ll break things down step-by-step:
- You cast Bill the Pony (a Legendary Creature)
- Scry 1 (Elrond’s effect)
- Then, Scry 1 again (as a result of Gandalf’s second effect)
- Afterward, The Ring Tempts You (since Elrond’s Scry ability was resolved twice this turn)
In the end, you can use Gandalf the White’s second effect to efficiently trigger useful abilities multiple times. There’s a lot of potential here, so get creative and come up with your own magical methods for winning games!
Gandalf the White MTG Price
If all you want is a copy of this card to put in your deck, fear not, as most versions of Gandalf the White cost between $5 and $30 (USD). However, this is not the case if you’re a collector seeking one of the two rarer variants.
To get your hands on the full-art Gandalf the White MTG card, you’ll need to pay around $40 for a near-mint specimen. Whereas, for the serial numbered edition of this card, you’ll have to fork over close to $500 for a near-mint copy.
That’s not the ceiling price for Gandalf the White card variants either! There’s a promo version of Gandalf the White that runs for close to $2,000 when near-mint.
Did you expect the promo version of this card to be that expensive? We didn’t! However, Magic: The Gathering is no stranger to pricey limited-edition collectibles. The rarest MTG cards sell for way more. With that said, another card from The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth expansion reaches the peak of card prices: The One Ring. Somewhere, Gollum is cringing.
