Is Butcher of Malakir good in Commander?

Butcher of Malakir in Commander — Combos, Decks & Price

Butcher of Malakir is a repeatable Dictate of Erebos stapled to a 5/4 flying body — every creature you sacrifice forces each opponent to sacrifice one of their own. The seven mana cost is real, but in sacrifice-heavy shells like Glissa, the Traitor or Strefan, Maurer Progenitor, it earns its slot by converting your engine's natural churn into a board-control lock.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Strefan, Maurer Progenitor

64.8% of decks · synergy 0.61

Strefan, Maurer Progenitor builds around sacrificing Blood tokens to cheat Vampires into play, and Butcher of Malakir turns every one of those sacrifices into a forced opponent sacrifice — free removal layered on top of the ramp effect.

02

Akul the Unrepentant

52.4% of decks · synergy 0.49

Akul the Unrepentant wants creatures dying constantly to trigger its Treasure and power generation, and Butcher of Malakir converts that death loop into a persistent edict that keeps opposing boards thin.

03

Clavileño, First of the Blessed

44.7% of decks · synergy 0.39

Clavileño, First of the Blessed sacrifices non-token Vampires to draw cards and create tokens, giving Butcher of Malakir a steady stream of deaths to weaponize against opponents.

04

Olivia, Crimson Bride

42.1% of decks · synergy 0.38

Olivia, Crimson Bride reanimates Vampires and loses them when she leaves the battlefield, so Butcher of Malakir ensures that even involuntary sacrifice or reanimation collapse punishes the table.

05

Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher

43.3% of decks · synergy 0.37

Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher scales on creatures leaving any graveyard, so running Butcher of Malakir accelerates Carmen's counters while simultaneously taxing opponent boards — two vectors of advantage from a single card.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

Format	Verdict
commander	legal
legacy	legal
modern	legal
pioneer	not legal
standard	not legal
vintage	legal
pauper	not legal
oathbreaker	legal

Commander is where Butcher of Malakir actually lives — seven mana is acceptable in a 40-life format with ramp, and the edict effect scales brutally when it hits three opponents simultaneously. In Legacy and Vintage it is technically legal but functionally unplayable; the format's pace makes a seven-drop edict engine a non-starter against turn-one and turn-two threats. Modern follows the same logic: Butcher of Malakir is far too slow for a format defined by four-turn clocks. Stick to Commander, where the politics of forced sacrifice and the multiplayer math make every activation worth far more than its mana.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

17 decks