Cryptic Annelid
Creature — Worm Beast
When this creature enters, scry 1, then scry 2, then scry 3. (To scry X, look at the top X cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom and the rest on top in any order.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Duel Decks: Venser vs. Koth
- Price
- $0.24
- EDHREC rank
- #10934
Cryptic Annelid enters and lets you scry 1, 2, or 3 — your choice — then draws you a card for each pile you chose not to look at, which means the deeper you scry, the less you draw, and vice versa. It's a flexible blue value piece, and Galadriel of Lothlórien turns every scry into an additional payoff that makes the trade-off irrelevant.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Galadriel of Lothlórien
Galadriel of Lothlórien cares about scrying repeatedly, and Cryptic Annelid's layered scry-on-entry is exactly the trigger density she wants — you're drawing cards and stacking her counters in the same breath.
Elminster
Elminster rewards you for looking at the top card of your library and manipulating it, so Cryptic Annelid's deep scry options let you feed his ability while smoothing your draws on the same turn.
Elrond, Master of Healing
Elrond, Master of Healing generates value off scrying, and Cryptic Annelid gives him up to three scry triggers on a single ETB, making it one of the most efficient enablers in the deck.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Cryptic Annelid is a Commander card through and through — the four-mana cost and enter-the-battlefield-only trigger are too slow for Legacy or Vintage, where it's technically legal but never played. In Commander, the flexibility of choosing your scry depth to dial between library manipulation and card draw is genuinely useful, especially in decks that care about scry count or top-deck control. Oathbreaker is the only other 60-card-adjacent format where it sees any fringe consideration, and only in scry-matters builds.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.24 bulk tier
At $0.24, Cryptic Annelid is firmly bulk — a throwaway inclusion that costs almost nothing to test. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to climb unless a major scry-matters commander breaks out.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Galadriel of Lothlórien
- Elminster
- Elrond, Master of Healing
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.