Crown-Hunter Hireling
Creature — Ogre Mercenary
When this creature enters, you become the monarch.
This creature can't attack unless defending player is the monarch.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Conspiracy: Take the Crown
- Price
- $0.14
- EDHREC rank
- #23586
Crown-Hunter Hireling enters the battlefield and hands the Monarch to the player with the most life, which in Commander almost always means you're giving a free card-draw engine to an opponent. A 4/4 for five mana that actively disadvantages you is not a bargain at any table.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Crown-Hunter Hireling is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but the Monarch mechanic only functions as intended when someone at the table can steal it back — which in 1v1 formats means you control it immediately or it flips to your opponent and stays there. In Commander it sees niche play in dedicated Monarch-matters decks where the goal is to introduce the mechanic and then reclaim the crown through combat, but even then there are cleaner ways to put Monarch into the game. Pauper is where Crown-Hunter Hireling has the most theoretical footing, since common-legal Monarch payoffs are real, but the five-mana cost is steep for that format's curve.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.14 bulk tier
At $0.14, Crown-Hunter Hireling is deep bulk — the kind of card you find in a draft chaff box, not a trade binder. Demand is low enough that this price is stable, but that's a ceiling, not a floor.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.