Embodiment of Agonies

Commander is where Embodiment of Agonies does its best work, slotting into black-heavy graveyard decks that naturally mill or discard a wide variety of cards across the mana curve — Golgari self-mill and five-color reanimator shells both give it room to grow into a legitimate finisher. In those formats where you're also casting it from the yard or cheating it into play, the body can be absurd for three mana. Legacy and Vintage have faster, more consistent threats and no reason to spend a build-around slot on a creature that requires graveyard setup. Modern and Pioneer are the interesting middle ground: the card is legal and the cost is right, but dedicated graveyard strategies there tend to want payoffs that end the game immediately, and a flying deathtouch beater — however big — rarely fits that profile. It's a Commander card wearing a Modern mana cost.