Briarblade Adept
Creature — Elf Assassin
Whenever this creature attacks, target creature an opponent controls gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Encore 
(, Exile this card from your graveyard: For each opponent, create a token copy that attacks that opponent this turn if able. They gain haste. Sacrifice them at the beginning of the next end step. Activate only as a sorcery.)
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Commander Legends
- Price
- $0.13
- EDHREC rank
- #21436
Briarblade Adept enters with a +1/+1 counter and puts another on a creature you control whenever you attack, making it a quiet but persistent engine in counters-matter decks. The cost is that it does nothing without a supporting gameplan — in a vacuum it's a 2/2 that slowly buffs one creature per turn, which isn't enough to justify a slot outside dedicated archetypes.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Briarblade Adept earns a slot in decks built around +1/+1 counters — think Atraxa, Praetors' Voice or Simic-based proliferate shells where every counter trigger compounds. Outside that archetype, it's too slow and too fragile to compete with the card-advantage engines the format demands. In Pauper, the common slot is brutally competitive and Briarblade Adept doesn't clear the bar — a 2/2 for two that distributes one counter per attack cycle can't keep pace with the format's efficient aggro and tempo staples. Legacy and Vintage are non-starters; Briarblade Adept has no business in formats defined by turn-one combo and free interaction.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.13 bulk tier
At $0.13, Briarblade Adept is deep bulk — you're picking it out of a dollar bin, not tracking it on a buylist. It holds that price comfortably because demand is narrow and supply is high; don't expect movement in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.