Archfiend's Vessel
Creature — Human Cleric
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
When this creature enters, if it entered from your graveyard or you cast it from your graveyard, exile it. If you do, create a 5/5 black Demon creature token with flying.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Core Set 2021
- Price
- $0.27
- EDHREC rank
- #13881
Archfiend's Vessel enters as a 1/1 for one mana and does nothing — until it comes back from the graveyard as a 5/5 flying Demon token, which is the entire reason you run it. Any deck that reanimates or recurs cheap creatures repeatedly turns this into a repeatable threat engine, and Orah, Skyclave Hierophant is the clearest example of a commander that makes that loop trivially easy.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Orah, Skyclave Hierophant
Orah, Skyclave Hierophant triggers off every Cleric dying, which means Archfiend's Vessel gets recurred from the graveyard constantly — and each recurrence that enters from a non-hand zone delivers a fresh 5/5 flying Demon, turning a one-mana body into a stack of air force that compounds as your other Clerics trade in combat or get sacrificed.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Archfiend's Vessel is a niche include rather than a universal staple — it earns its slot only in dedicated reanimator or aristocrats shells that can reliably put it into the graveyard and return it to the battlefield rather than to hand. In competitive 1v1 formats like Modern and Pioneer, it has seen fringe play in black sacrifice decks where Lurrus of the Dream-Den was legal as a companion, but without that enabler the payoff is too slow for those formats' tempo demands. Legacy and Vintage have access to faster, more consistent reanimation, so Archfiend's Vessel doesn't make the cut there. The card is not legal in Standard or Pauper, so those aren't conversations worth having.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.27 bulk tier
At $0.27, Archfiend's Vessel is bulk — pick it up without a second thought for any deck that can use it. Bulk commons and uncommons at this price point don't move much regardless of casual demand, so there's no urgency in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.