Cephalid Retainer
Creature — Octopus
: Tap target creature without flying.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Odyssey
- Price
- $0.20
- EDHREC rank
- #25634
Cephalid Retainer taps all creatures target player controls — a one-sided pseudo-Fog that can lock down a table's worth of blockers or attackers for a turn. The cost is steep: five mana for a 2/2 that dies to a stiff breeze, and the tap effect only fires when it deals combat damage to a player.
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 |
In Commander, Cephalid Retainer is a niche inclusion in decks that can guarantee it connects — evasion enablers, unblockable effects, or voltron setups — since the payoff of tapping down an opponent's entire board is genuinely powerful at a multiplayer table. Legacy and Vintage have access to it, but faster, more efficient interaction makes a five-mana 2/2 that requires a combat damage trigger essentially unplayable in those formats. Cephalid Retainer is a Commander-only card in practice.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.20 bulk tier
At $0.20, Cephalid Retainer is deep bulk — a casual pickup that costs less than a sleeve. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to move unless a high-profile unblockable or combat-damage-trigger commander breaks out.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.