Cabal Archon
Creature — Human Cleric
, Sacrifice a Cleric: Target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Onslaught
- Price
- $0.32
- EDHREC rank
- #20939
Cabal Archon drains each opponent for 1 life every time you sacrifice a Cleric, turning a creature type into a repeatable life-swing engine at no mana cost per trigger. The payoff is real in dedicated Cleric shells, but outside of Orah, Skyclave Hierophant it's a narrow three-drop that does nothing on an empty board.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Orah, Skyclave Hierophant
Orah, Skyclave Hierophant runs a sacrifice-and-recur loop where every Cleric death fuels the next — Cabal Archon turns each of those deaths into a drain trigger, converting the engine's natural churn into a legitimate win condition.
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 |
Cabal Archon is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it's a Commander card in practice. In Legacy and Vintage the power floor is too high for a three-mana 2/2 with a tribal drain trigger to compete. Commander is where Cabal Archon earns its slot: 40-life totals reward incremental drains, and the multiplayer table multiplies each trigger's value — one sacrifice hits three opponents simultaneously. Outside of Cleric-tribal builds, it's still too parasitic to earn a general seat.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.32 bulk tier
At $0.32, Cabal Archon is firmly bulk — pick it up without a second thought if you're building Clerics. Price is unlikely to move meaningfully given the card's narrow tribal scope and low demand outside one commander archetype.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.