Whenever Arbaaz Mir or another nontoken historic permanent you control enters, Arbaaz Mir deals 1 damage to each opponent and you gain 1 life. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
Arbaaz Mir turns your battlefield into a slow-burn engine: every nontoken historic permanent (artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas) you play pings each opponent for 1 and gains you 1 life. You flood the board with cheap artifacts and legendary permanents, then accelerate the damage with bounce/flicker loops and extra-trigger doublers to chip all three opponents to zero. Early turns develop mana rocks and Arbaaz; mid-game you chain historic ETBs into lethal pings.
Damage hits every opponent simultaneously, making it efficient in multiplayer math
Cheap two-mana commander that comes online immediately and is easy to recast
Lifegain buffer keeps you safe while you grind incrementally
Synergizes with the huge pool of artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas — easy to fill a deck
Reusable ETB triggers via blink and bounce create explosive turns
Damage is slow and incremental without payoff doublers, so it can be outpaced by faster combo decks
Heavily reliant on the commander staying in play — board wipes and removal stall the whole plan
No native card advantage engine in the command zone
Token strategies don't trigger it, narrowing some Boros support cards
Vulnerable to lifegain/damage-prevention hate (e.g., effects that stop noncombat damage)
Recurs cheap legendary/artifact creatures to loop ETB triggers for repeated pings.
Add trigger doublers (Panharmonicon, Elesh Norn, Mondrak) and free recursion/blink loops (Teshar plus a zero-cost artifact, Restoration Angel, Conjurer's Closet) to turn incremental pings into combo-style finishes. Tighten the curve with cheap mana rocks and one-mana legendaries to maximize triggers per turn, and include protection like Heroic Intervention or Teferi's Protection to keep the engine intact through wipes. Top-end payoffs like Aetherflux Reservoir and Bolas's Citadel convert your lifegain into immediate wins.
Legendary Creature — Human Assassin
