Contagious Nim
Creature — Phyrexian Zombie
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Scars of Mirrodin
- Price
- $0.25
- EDHREC rank
- #17096
Contagious Nim drops a three-mana 2/2 that spreads -1/-1 counters via infect and proliferates your whole board whenever it deals combat damage — that's a meaningful snowball effect, not just chip damage. In dedicated poison or counter-based strategies like Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, it earns its slot; anywhere else, the body is too fragile and the payoff too narrow.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon decks live and die by stacking poison counters fast, and Contagious Nim's combat-damage proliferate trigger accelerates that clock by pushing every existing counter forward — it's redundancy the archetype genuinely wants.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Contagious Nim is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker. In Commander it's a niche piece in infect or proliferate builds — the four-player table slows its damage-based proliferate trigger down considerably, so it only pulls weight if the deck is already committed to the poison plan. In Pauper it's the most interesting home: common-legal infect threats are limited, and the proliferate rider gives it a ceiling above most peers at the same cost. In Legacy and Vintage it's unplayable on rate — those formats don't want a three-mana 2/2 regardless of the text box.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.25 bulk tier
At $0.25, Contagious Nim is firmly bulk — the kind of card you pick up as a throw-in without thinking twice. Bulk infect commons don't tend to spike unless a new proliferate commander drives sudden demand, so expect it to stay in this range.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.