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Carrion Feeder

Creature — Zombie

This creature can't block.
Sacrifice a creature: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.

CMC
1
Mana cost
{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
rare
Set
Secret Lair Drop
Price
$40.95
EDHREC rank
#601
Buy on TCGplayer
Carrion Feeder card art
Carrion Feeder is a free sacrifice outlet that grows on its own — a one-mana zombie that unlocks combo lines other decks can only dream of. It slots into any black sacrifice shell, and alongside Pitiless Plunderer or Tayam, Luminous Enigma it becomes the axis an entire engine rotates around.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Tayam, Luminous Enigma

Tayam, Luminous Enigma

67.5% of decks · synergy 0.61

Tayam, Luminous Enigma needs a free sacrifice outlet to loop permanents with three or fewer mana value back from the graveyard, and Carrion Feeder fills that role on a one-mana body that also accumulates counters to fuel Tayam's activation cost.

02
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver

Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver

62.2% of decks · synergy 0.56

Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver generates a Decayed zombie on every non-token zombie death, and Carrion Feeder converts those Decayed tokens — which can't attack — into +1/+1 counters, turning a restriction into pure upside.

03
Marchesa, the Black Rose

Marchesa, the Black Rose

58.4% of decks · synergy 0.56

Marchesa, the Black Rose rewards putting counters on creatures, and Carrion Feeder puts a counter on itself every time something dies — which means it gets a counter, dies, returns, and the loop sustains itself indefinitely with the right sacrifice fodder.

04
Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder

Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder

63.6% of decks · synergy 0.52

Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder floods the board with Thrull tokens and destroys itself if you hit eight, so Carrion Feeder gives you a clean valve to sacrifice excess Thrulls before the count triggers, while growing into a real threat in the process.

05
Felisa, Fang of Silverquill

Felisa, Fang of Silverquill

59.3% of decks · synergy 0.51

Felisa, Fang of Silverquill triggers on the death of creatures with counters, producing Inklings — and since Carrion Feeder accumulates +1/+1 counters naturally, sacrificing it or other countered-up creatures through Carrion Feeder chains directly into Felisa's token generation.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper legal
oathbreaker legal

In Commander, Carrion Feeder is a staple — a zero-cost sacrifice outlet is rare, and the counter accumulation turns it from a utility piece into a late-game threat. Pauper is where it sees its most competitive non-Commander play, showing up in sacrifice and aristocrats lists that need a resilient, uncounterable outlet that costs one mana. In Legacy, Carrion Feeder sits at the fringes of graveyard and zombie strategies but rarely earns a maindeck slot over more impactful one-drops. Modern lists have access to stronger sacrifice infrastructure, so it appears mostly in fringe tribal zombie builds. Vintage effectively ignores it — the power ceiling there is too high for a vanilla-statted 1/1.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

24,574 decks
Pitiless PlundererGravecrawlerCarrion Feeder

Pitiless PlundererGravecrawlerCarrion Feeder

Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite storm count; Infinite Treasure tokens; Infinite colored mana; Infinite colorless mana; Infinite creature tokens

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Carrion Feeder's real competition is Viscera Seer, which costs the same one mana, is also a zombie, and replaces the counter-growth with a scry — strictly better in decks that need library manipulation over board presence. Altar of Dementia is a non-creature alternative that mills instead of growing, loses the creature type and the counter synergies, but dodges creature removal and doubles as a win condition in graveyard decks.

Price Context

Current price

$40.95 premium tier

At $40.95, Carrion Feeder sits in premium territory driven almost entirely by its Judgment foil and select reprint scarcity — regular copies from later printings are widely available well under a dollar. Unless you're chasing a specific foil or version, there's no reason to pay anywhere near that number.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.