Dauthi Mercenary
Creature — Dauthi Knight Mercenary
Shadow (This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.)
: This creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Tempest
- Price
- $0.35
- EDHREC rank
- #20950
Dauthi Mercenary is a shadow creature that can't be blocked by most of the board and grows by spending black mana — evasive clock and mana sink in one body. The cost is that shadow cuts both ways: it trades with almost nothing in combat, so if you fall behind, it contributes zero to defense.
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 |
In Commander, Dauthi Mercenary fills a niche role in black aggro and voltron shells that want a repeatable mana sink on an unblockable threat — shadow is effectively unblockable in most metas since almost no other creatures have it. In Legacy and Vintage, shadow creatures see fringe play in dedicated shadow aggro lists, but Dauthi Mercenary's pump ability is too mana-intensive to compete with faster threats in those formats. Pauper is the most favorable competitive home: the format is slow enough that a growing shadow creature demands an answer, and the mana-sink clause matters when games go long.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.35 bulk tier
At $0.35, Dauthi Mercenary is firmly bulk — easy to pick up as a playset without budgetary concern. It's not a card with cross-format demand driving a spike, so that price is stable.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.