Agonizing Syphon
Sorcery
Agonizing Syphon deals 3 damage to any target and you gain 3 life.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Core Set 2020
- Price
- $0.14
- EDHREC rank
- #18809
Agonizing Syphon drains one opponent for 3 life and nets you 3 in return — six life of swing on a single sorcery, which is meaningful in a format where life totals start at 40. The cost is the problem: four mana at sorcery speed for a single-target effect is overcosted, and nearly every black deck has better options at this slot.
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 |
Agonizing Syphon is a bulk common, and its home is almost exclusively Commander — specifically low-powered pods and precon-adjacent lists where four-mana sorceries aren't competing against Swords to Plowshares and Deadly Rollick. In Pauper it's legal but unplayed; the format is too fast and too efficient for a four-mana spell that doesn't affect the board beyond life totals. Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Pioneer are non-starters — Agonizing Syphon is decades behind the curve in any 60-card competitive context. In Commander it earns a narrow role in dedicated lifegain-payoff builds where the 3-life gain is a meaningful trigger, not just a bonus.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.14 bulk tier
At $0.14, Agonizing Syphon is deep bulk — the kind of card you find in a common box at the bottom of a bargain bin. It holds that price floor indefinitely; there's no realistic demand driver that moves a four-mana sorcery-speed drain spell out of bulk territory.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.