Corpse Augur
Creature — Zombie Wizard
When this creature dies, you draw X cards and you lose X life, where X is the number of creature cards in target player's graveyard.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $0.20
- EDHREC rank
- #5727
Corpse Augur enters the battlefield and immediately draws you cards equal to the greatest number of creature cards in any opponent's graveyard — a number that scales with how much has already died, which in multiplayer Commander is often four to eight cards deep by mid-game. The cost is life loss equal to cards drawn, which is real but rarely prohibitive in a format where starting life totals are 40. In graveyard-heavy metas, this is one of the most explosive draw-fours you can staple onto a 3/3 body for four mana — Temmet, Naktamun's Will lists run it at over 40% inclusion for exactly that reason.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Temmet, Naktamun's Will
Temmet, Naktamun's Will generates a constant stream of tokens that die and feed opponents' graveyards while also churning through its own — Corpse Augur lands in that environment as a reliable four-to-six card refill on a creature that naturally slots into the reanimation loops Temmet enables.
Nalia de'Arnise
Nalia de'Arnise cares about creatures with three or more power and rewards a creature-dense, synergy-stacked board; Corpse Augur fills the dual role of a qualifying creature and a draw engine that pays off in proportion to how much the table has been fighting.
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver builds boards that die en masse and return as Decayed tokens, meaning by the time Corpse Augur enters play the graveyards around the table are loaded — drawing five or six cards off a single ETB is routine in that shell.
Zul Ashur, Lich Lord
Zul Ashur, Lich Lord leans into self-mill and graveyard accumulation, so Corpse Augur can frequently read as "draw equal to the size of your own graveyard" when Zul has been running for a few turns.
Syr Konrad, the Grim
Syr Konrad, the Grim triggers off every creature leaving graveyards, which means Corpse Augur's death deals damage on top of drawing cards — two distinct payoffs on one low-cost body that any Syr Konrad list is happy to exploit.
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 |
Corpse Augur is a Commander card through and through — the effect scales with the number of players at the table and the density of creature combat, both of which Commander maximizes. In a typical four-player game by turn five, drawing four to seven cards off a single ETB is realistic, making the life-loss clause negligible against a 40-life starting total. Legacy and Vintage are legal formats for it, but a four-mana 3/3 with conditional draw has no competitive role there when the format rewards two-mana cantrips and immediate board impact. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander format where it's worth a thought, since the two-player dynamic compresses the game enough that graveyard counts stay lower and the card performs more like a modest two-to-three card draw — still fine for the cost.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.20 bulk tier
At $0.20, Corpse Augur is deep bulk — one of the most efficient draws-per-dollar ratios in black Commander staples. Bulk rares with narrow but high-synergy applications tend to stay flat unless a reprint or spike in commander popularity pushes demand, so treat this as a throw-it-in pickup rather than a spec.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.