Ambitious Aetherborn
Creature — Aetherborn Artificer
Fabricate 1 (When this creature enters, put a +1/+1 counter on it or create a 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature token.)
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $0.08
- EDHREC rank
- #27675
Ambitious Aetherborn enters as a 4/3 that drains each opponent for 2 — immediate life pressure and board presence in one card. The cost is four mana at sorcery speed with no built-in protection, so it leans hard on enablers like Nim Deathmantle to turn that ETB into a repeatable engine rather than a one-shot.
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 |
Ambitious Aetherborn is a Commander card through and through — the ETB drain scales with the number of opponents, making a four-player table worth 6 life lost before the turn even passes back. In Pauper it's a legal common with a decent rate, but drain-on-ETB strategies have tighter, more efficient options at that cost. Constructed formats like Modern and Pioneer have no real interest here; the statline and effect don't clear the bar when competing against purpose-built threats. Legacy and Vintage are non-starters for obvious reasons. Commander is where Ambitious Aetherborn earns its slot, specifically in decks that abuse ETB triggers repeatedly.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Nim DeathmantleAshnod's AltarAmbitious Aetherborn
Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of TwilightViscera SeerAmbitious Aetherborn
Infinite LTB; Infinite ETB; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite death triggers; Infinite scry 1
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of TwilightPhyrexian AltarAmbitious Aetherborn
Infinite LTB; Infinite ETB; Infinite colored mana; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite death triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of TwilightAshnod's AltarAmbitious Aetherborn
Infinite LTB; Infinite ETB; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite death triggers; Infinite colorless mana
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of TwilightAltar of DementiaAmbitious Aetherborn
Infinite LTB; Infinite ETB; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite death triggers; Infinite mill; Infinite self-mill
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.08 bulk tier
At $0.08, Ambitious Aetherborn is deep bulk — you're picking this up as a throw-in or out of a bulk bin. That price is stable because demand is narrow and supply is wide; don't expect movement unless a prominent Commander deck pushes it into the spotlight.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Nim Deathmantle
- Ashnod's Altar
- Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn // Isilu, Carrier of Twilight
- Viscera Seer
- Phyrexian Altar
- Altar of Dementia
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.