Bile-Vial Boggart
Creature — Goblin Assassin
When this creature dies, put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Lorwyn Eclipsed
- Price
- $0.19
- EDHREC rank
- #14721
Bile-Vial Boggart enters with a -1/-1 counter already on it and spreads one to each other creature you control, which sounds like a drawback until you realize that's the whole point. In Grub, Storied Matriarch and similar counter-stacking strategies, that mass distribution is free value — you're paying two mana to seed your board with the exact resource your deck wants.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Grub, Storied Matriarch
Grub, Storied Matriarch turns every -1/-1 counter into a resource engine, and Bile-Vial Boggart's enters-the-battlefield trigger spreads counters across the whole board the moment it lands — that's immediate, free fuel for Grub's payoffs without spending additional cards or mana.
The Scorpion God
The Scorpion God draws a card whenever a creature gets a -1/-1 counter, so Bile-Vial Boggart's mass distribution on entry can draw several cards at once — one Boggart hitting five creatures is five cards if they all survive.
Massacre Girl, Known Killer
Massacre Girl, Known Killer gives your creatures with -1/-1 counters wither, and Bile-Vial Boggart seeds that counter across your whole board on entry, instantly turning your entire squad into a wither threat without any additional setup.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Bile-Vial Boggart is legal everywhere but sees essentially no competitive play outside Commander — the effect is too slow and too conditional for formats where the game ends before counter synergies compound. In Commander, it slots cleanly into any -1/-1 counter deck as a cheap, immediately impactful piece that does work on the turn it enters. Pauper is the one non-Commander format where Boggart could theoretically appear in a dedicated -1/-1 strategy, though no established shell has claimed it. Everywhere else, treat it as a Commander-only card.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.19 bulk tier
At $0.19, Bile-Vial Boggart is pure bulk — pick up as many copies as you need without a second thought. Bulk rares and uncommons with niche synergy profiles rarely appreciate unless a Commander release pushes the archetype into the spotlight, so buy it for the deck, not the binder.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Grub, Storied Matriarch
- The Scorpion God
- Massacre Girl, Known Killer
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.