MagicTheGathering.fyi

Defiler of Vigor

Creature — Phyrexian Wurm

Trample
As an additional cost to cast green permanent spells, you may pay 2 life. Those spells cost {G} less to cast if you paid life this way. This effect reduces only the amount of green mana you pay.
Whenever you cast a green permanent spell, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{G}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
rare
Set
Dominaria United
Price
$3.81
EDHREC rank
#1484
Buy on TCGplayer
Defiler of Vigor card art
Defiler of Vigor lands as a 6/6 trample that turns every green creature you cast into a permanent counter-doubling event — the rate is absurd for the mana. The catch is life payment instead of green mana pips, which is a real cost in aggressive metas but trivial in most Commander pods. Pair it with Cloudstone Curio and a Baru, Wurmspeaker token loop and the counter output becomes obscene within two turns.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Baru, Wurmspeaker

Baru, Wurmspeaker

82.6% of decks · synergy 0.68

Baru, Wurmspeaker generates Wurm tokens that trigger Defiler of Vigor on cast of each green creature, stacking +1/+1 counters across the board at a rate that wins combat almost immediately. Over 82% of Baru decks run it, and the synergy score of 0.68 is among the highest on EDHREC — this is a core piece, not a flex slot.

02
Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider

Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider

59.8% of decks · synergy 0.45

Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider doubles counters placed on your permanents, so every trigger from Defiler of Vigor produces twice the counters — a two-card engine that scales with every subsequent green creature cast. Together they make even modest creature chains game-ending within a few turns.

03
Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma

Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma

47.6% of decks · synergy 0.33

Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma reduces the cost of large green creatures, which means you can chain casts faster and fire Defiler of Vigor's trigger more times per turn. The cost reduction also offsets the life payment on back-to-back Defiler activations when you're deploying multiple threats.

04
Eshki, Temur's Roar

Eshki, Temur's Roar

35.0% of decks · synergy 0.32

Eshki, Temur's Roar rewards you for casting large creatures, and Defiler of Vigor converts each of those casts into a board-wide counter pump. The life payment is manageable when Eshki is already incentivizing you to slam big threats on curve.

05
Helga, Skittish Seer

Helga, Skittish Seer

30.4% of decks · synergy 0.28

Helga, Skittish Seer cares about +1/+1 counters being placed on creatures, so every Defiler of Vigor trigger feeds directly into Helga's ability. The density of counter-placement makes Defiler one of the most consistent enablers in any Helga build.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Commander is where Defiler of Vigor does its best work — multiplayer games give you enough turns to chain green creatures and enough life to absorb the payment cost repeatedly. In Modern and Pioneer, a six-mana 6/6 with no immediate board impact competes in a removal-dense environment where it rarely survives to generate value, and dedicated counter or stompy decks usually have faster, more resilient lines. Legacy makes it even harder to justify at that cost. Defiler of Vigor is legal across all the major 60-card formats but sees negligible competitive play in them — treat it as a Commander card that happens to be technically legal elsewhere.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

270 decks
Defiler of VigorCloudstone CurioSilverback Elder

Defiler of VigorCloudstone CurioSilverback Elder

Infinite ETB; Infinite lifegain; Infinite lifegain triggers; Infinite LTB; Infinite storm count; Near-infinite landfall triggers; Put all lands from your library onto the battlefield tapped; Infinite +1/+1 counters on creatures you control

View on Commander Spellbook ↗
6 decks
Mazzy, Truesword PaladinUnbridled GrowthDefiler of VigorAetherflux Reservoir

Mazzy, Truesword PaladinUnbridled GrowthDefiler of VigorAetherflux Reservoir

Infinite card draw; Infinite draw triggers; Near-infinite +1/+1 counters; Near-infinite damage; Near-infinite lifegain; Near-infinite lifegain triggers; Near-infinite storm count

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

$3.81 cheap tier

At $3.81, Defiler of Vigor sits at the low end of mythic pricing for a card with this level of Commander adoption — it's a genuine bargain relative to its inclusion rate. The price is unlikely to move sharply unless a new counter-doubling commander pushes demand, but at this tier it's an easy include without budget concerns.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

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