Pako, Arcane Retriever

Legendary Creature — Elemental Dog

Partner with Haldan, Avid Arcanist (When this creature enters the battlefield, target player may put Haldin, Avid Arcanist into their hand from their library, then shuffle.)

Haste

Whenever Pako, Arcane Retriever attacks, exile the top card of each player's library and put a fetch counter on each of them. Put a +1/+1 counter on Pako for each noncreature card exiled this way.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (29)

Jack-Frost on Pako and Haldan, Avid Retriever *Primer*

3 months ago

Apokalypsi I did, and he's honestly a great card for this deck. The only reasons I don't run him are the fact that firstly he's a 5 drop which is expensive, but also because there are only two cards in my deck that trigger him being Pako, Arcane Retriever and Etali, Primal Storm. I'm honestly still considering him, which is why he's in my maybeboard, but i'm just not really sure what i'd want to cut for him. I'll take another look again and reconsider, so thank you so much for the suggestion. I'm glad you liked the deck!

collegecouchpotato on Adventure Time! - Saviors of Ooo

7 months ago

This is great! I am working on a Haldan, Avid Arcanist (Finn) and Pako, Arcane Retriever (Jake) RUG deck with the secret commander being Myra the Magnificent (Princess Bubblegum). They are going to the space carnival to rescue the princess from the Ice King (haven't found an anologue I like for him yet) and riding as many of the rides as they can in the process. It is all about rolling dice, experiencing the booths, and riding some rides on their way to thwart the Ice King. Any ideas on good analogs for some of the other characters like BMO, Marceline, Lady Rainicorn and LSP?

Apokalypsi on Pako and Haldan, Avid Retriever *Primer*

7 months ago

This deck looks awesome. Have you considered Wulfgar of Icewind Dale to get double triggers off Pako, Arcane Retriever and ilk?

griffstick on Card creation challenge

10 months ago

seshiro_of_the_orochi.

is Pako, Arcane Retriever a pet?

What about

• Rin and Seri, Inseparable?
• Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful?
• Kunoros, Hound of Athreos?
• Isamaru, Hound of Konda?
• Mowu, Loyal Companion?

Are these all pets?

Or do you mean "pet card" like Glasses of Urza is a pet card of mine?

LightEntropy on Being a good boy

1 year ago

I'm into the Temporal Spring include. I would recommend Portent for versatility and keeping it cheap. Other card includes might be The Lost and the Damned for more exile theme, and Sticky Fingers to get mana and hit more with Pako, Arcane Retriever Always keep in mind that you can't cast the spells exiled unless you control Haldan, Avid Arcanist so being able to give him shroud, hexproof, or totem armor might be good. Vanishing is budget, and very effective to protect him.

multimedia on Kalamax Instants

1 year ago

Hey, nice upgrades to the precon on a budget.

With Kalamax I find that instants that can give him evasion while also draw a card are excellent. It's the draw that's makes 1 mana and 2 mana spells like this busted with Kalamax. Kalamax is a great attacker to do real Commander damage if he has evasion.

• Shadow Rift --> Strength of the Tajuru
• Leap --> Lunar Frenzy
• Fists of Flame --> Trap Essence

Kalamax is a mana hungry Commander because to take advantage of his abilities you want to cast an instant on each player's turn and to do this consistently requires having a lot of mana. Consider more ramp?

• Relic of Legends --> Haldan, Avid Arcanist
• Storm-Kiln Artist --> Pako, Arcane Retriever
• Roiling Regrowth --> Essence Scatter
• Fellwar Stone --> Evolution Charm
• Joint Exploration --> Curse of Echoes

Relic of Legends is ramp and a source to tap Kalamax that makes mana. Storm-Kiln Artist is more magecraft, ramp with treasures. Roiling Regrowth is like Harrow except the basic lands ETB tapped. From the precon Haldan, Avid Arcanist + Pako, Arcane Retriever aren't needed, they belong in their own deck, with their own strategies.

Three, four or five color Precon manabases are subpar with too many basic lands which makes color fixing from lands quite poor. On a budget there's several land upgrades to consider, replacing not just some basic lands, but other lands that always ETB tapped for lands that don't?

• Holdout Settlement --> 1x Mountain
• Survivors' Encampment --> 1x Island
• Shivan Reef --> 1x Mountain
• Karplusan Forest --> 1x Island
• Rockfall Vale --> Rugged Highlands
• Vineglimmer Snarl --> Thornwood Falls
• Game Trail --> Gruul Turf
• Path of Ancestry --> Swiftwater Cliffs

Holdout Settlement and Survivors' Encampment can tap Kalamax to make mana. This is important since relying only on tapping Kalamax because you attacked can be problematic because what if Kalamax can't attack?

Good luck with your deck.

Lordeh on Life at the Outpost

1 year ago

Elven Warhounds, Pako, Arcane Retriever and Iron Mastiff are spicy picks for dogs!

test_user2 on Xyris, love at all cost

2 years ago

Pako, Arcane Retriever is a valid question. Was an "I-like" on first glance. ^^ Kessig Wolf Run is a good point. Also Soul Conduit , although it is quite mana heavy. I'm not so much a fan of Thieves' Auction , as I suspect, that redistributing the cards might be a very long and dragging process, but thank you for the suggestion!