Emperor of Bones
Creature — Skeleton Noble
At the beginning of combat on your turn, exile up to one target card from a graveyard.
: Adapt 2.
Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on this creature, put a creature card exiled with this creature onto the battlefield under your control with a finality counter on it. It gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Modern Horizons 3
- Price
- $1.10
- EDHREC rank
- #5319
Emperor of Bones reanimates any creature from any graveyard the moment it enters — no tapping, no sorcery-speed restriction, just an immediate body on the battlefield. The cost is real: you have to unearth it, which means exiling it at end of turn or when it leaves, so the reanimation is a one-shot.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ketramose, the New Dawn
Ketramose, the New Dawn rewards you for casting spells from exile, and Emperor of Bones unearthing itself means it's already staged in exile to fuel that engine while dropping a reanimation target into play the turn it arrives.
Gisa, the Hellraiser
Gisa, the Hellraiser floods the board with zombies, and Emperor of Bones supplements that plan by pulling back a high-value creature from any graveyard — often a table opponent's best threat — without competing for Gisa's own resources.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Emperor of Bones does its best work: three graveyards to raid means you'll almost always find something worth stealing, and the one-time reanimation cost is acceptable when you're grabbing an opponent's Elesh Norn or a self-milled titan. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but faces stiff competition from Reanimate and Necromancy, which operate at instant speed without the exile rider. Modern has similar issue — dedicated reanimator shells already have cheaper, more reliable lines, and the four-mana unearth cost is steep in a format where games end quickly. Emperor of Bones is a Commander card that happens to be printed at rare; don't overthink the competitive-format slot.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.10 cheap tier
At $1.10, Emperor of Bones sits in the bulk-rare tier — cheap enough to throw into any black reanimation deck without deliberation. Cards at this price point in Commander tend to stay flat unless a breakout deck or reprint pushes them, so grab it for the playability, not the portfolio.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.