Bloodroot Apothecary
Creature — Squirrel Druid
Toxic 2 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get two poison counters. A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game.)
When this creature enters, you and target opponent each create a Treasure token.
Whenever an opponent sacrifices a noncreature token, that player gets two poison counters.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Bloomburrow Commander
- Price
- $0.68
- EDHREC rank
- #3887
Bloodroot Apothecary puts a poison counter on each opponent whenever you gain life, turning any life-gain trigger into a poison clock without spending a card or a mana on your turn. Vazi, Keen Negotiator decks in particular treat it as a free win condition stapled to their existing treasure and life-gain loops.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Vazi, Keen Negotiator
Vazi, Keen Negotiator generates life gain through treasure trades and political exchanges, and Bloodroot Apothecary converts every one of those life-gain events into a poison counter across the table — the deck was already gaining life, so this is a free poison clock.
Fynn, the Fangbearer
Fynn, the Fangbearer already wants to stack poison counters through deathtouch combat, and Bloodroot Apothecary opens a parallel infect route through life gain so the deck can threaten ten counters from two completely different angles simultaneously.
Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa
Ixhel, Scion of Atraxa pushes poison counters as its primary gameplan, and Bloodroot Apothecary accelerates that clock by converting incidental life gain — from Phyrexian Arena effects, Soul sisters, or combat — into additional counters without needing to attack.
Jolene, the Plunder Queen
Jolene, the Plunder Queen incentivizes opponents to attack each other and rewards the deck with treasures and life, and Bloodroot Apothecary turns those life-gain payoffs into poison accumulation that opponents can't easily redirect or prevent.
Kibo, Uktabi Prince
Kibo, Uktabi Prince hands out Banana tokens that give opponents life when cracked, and Bloodroot Apothecary flips that political gift into a poison counter for every banana an opponent cashes in — a punisher loop baked directly into the command zone.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Bloodroot Apothecary does its best work: three opponents means every life-gain trigger dishes out three poison counters simultaneously, and the ten-counter threshold is reachable in a handful of turns once a loop gets going. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but effectively invisible — those formats have no poison synergy infrastructure and the card does nothing without a dedicated life-gain engine feeding it. Oathbreaker is the one other format worth mentioning, where a life-gain planeswalker pairing can assemble the engine faster, though the smaller card pool makes consistency harder than in Commander.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.68 bulk tier
At $0.68, Bloodroot Apothecary is bulk — easy to throw in any poison or life-gain Commander deck without a second thought about cost. It sees enough play across Vazi, Fynn, and Ixhel strategies that the price has a floor, but don't expect it to climb meaningfully while it remains a single-printing uncommon without a competitive breakout.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.