Disciple of Phenax
Creature — Human Cleric
When this creature enters, target player reveals a number of cards from their hand equal to your devotion to black. You choose one of them. That player discards that card. (Each 
in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to black.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Pioneer Masters
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #23479
Disciple of Phenax enters the battlefield, you look at target opponent's hand and make them discard a nonland card — two relevant effects stapled to a 1/3 body for four mana. The cost is real: four mana for a creature that dies to most removal before you ever untap with it is a steep ask in competitive pods, but in black discard and Devotion shells it earns its slot.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Disciple of Phenax is a Commander card through and through — the format's multiplayer nature means hand information from one opponent is genuinely actionable, and ETB reuse via flicker or reanimation compounds the value over a long game. In Pauper it's legal and has seen fringe play in black control shells that want both a body and a discard effect on the same card, though the four-mana cost strains those lists. Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Pioneer all offer faster, more compact discard at lower mana values, so Disciple of Phenax sees essentially zero play in those formats — it's simply outclassed by Thoughtseize and its relatives. Oathbreaker mirrors the Commander dynamic closely enough that the same Devotion and discard-matters commanders make it relevant there too.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't available at this moment, but Disciple of Phenax is a common with multiple printings and historically sits well under a dollar — often in bulk bins. It's worth picking up on the cheap if you're building Tergrid, God of Fright or a black Devotion list, but don't spend above bulk on it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.