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Debtors' Knell

Enchantment

({W/B} can be paid with either {W} or {B}.)
At the beginning of your upkeep, put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.

CMC
7
Mana cost
{4}{W/B}{W/B}{W/B}
Color identity
BW
Rarity
rare
Set
Commander 2021
Price
$0.67
EDHREC rank
#7397
Buy on TCGplayer
Debtors' Knell card art
Debtors' Knell puts a creature from any graveyard into play under your control at the beginning of every upkeep — including your opponents' — which means in a four-player game you're stealing up to three creatures per round. The cost is real: seven mana and a {W}{W}{B}{B} pip requirement that demands a well-tuned mana base, but Ghen, Arcanum Weaver can cheat it into play and protect it, making that ceiling much easier to reach than it looks.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Ghen, Arcanum Weaver

Ghen, Arcanum Weaver

27.1% of decks · synergy 0.26

Ghen, Arcanum Weaver can sacrifice a cheaper enchantment to put Debtors' Knell directly onto the battlefield, bypassing the seven-mana cast cost entirely and leaving the Knell's trigger running every upkeep. That combination of free deployment and recursive protection makes Ghen the premier home for it.

02
Athreos, Shroud-Veiled

Athreos, Shroud-Veiled

25.9% of decks · synergy 0.24

Athreos, Shroud-Veiled places coin counters on creatures, and when those creatures die they return to hand or field — stacking that engine on top of Debtors' Knell means every graveyard at the table becomes a resource your opponents can't control. The two effects cover each other's blind spots: Athreos handles fresh kills, Debtors' Knell handles whatever's already in graveyards.

03
Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign

Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign

16.8% of decks · synergy 0.15

Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign cares about odd-mana-cost spells, and Debtors' Knell's seven-mana cost qualifies it to be cast for free off a Yennett attack trigger. That alone justifies inclusion, and a recurring reanimation engine is exactly the kind of inevitability a Yennett deck wants to close out long games.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Debtors' Knell earns its reputation — the trigger fires on every player's upkeep, so a four-player table means three free reanimations per full rotation, a rate that snowballs out of control quickly. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but practically irrelevant; seven mana is an insurmountable opportunity cost in formats where games end on turns two through four. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander 60-card-adjacent format where it could see play, though the faster pace still punishes the mana investment. For almost every practical purpose, Debtors' Knell is a Commander card.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.67 bulk tier

At $0.67, Debtors' Knell is bulk despite its power level — casual demand keeps it from cratering further, but it's never broken into staple territory. It's a safe pickup at this price for any deck that can support the color pips.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.