Etched Host Doombringer
Creature — Phyrexian Demon
When this creature enters, choose one —
• Target opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
• Choose target battle. If an opponent protects it, remove three defense counters from it. Otherwise, put three defense counters on it.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- March of the Machine
- Price
- $0.11
- EDHREC rank
- #23212
Etched Host Doombringer lands as a 4/4 flier that immediately proliferates every counter on the board — the threat and the payoff arrive in the same trigger. The five-mana ask is real, but you're getting a flying body plus a free proliferate the turn it enters, which clears the bar for any counter-based Commander deck.
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 |
In Commander, Etched Host Doombringer earns its slot in any deck that proliferates as a core mechanic — poison, loyalty counters, and +1/+1 counter engines all benefit from the enter-the-battlefield trigger before it ever attacks. In Pauper it's legal but competes in a format where five mana for a single ETB trigger is a steep ask without the multiplayer math that makes proliferating every opponent's poison counters backbreaking. Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, and Vintage have no serious interest — Etched Host Doombringer is a build-around piece, not a standalone threat, and those formats demand engines that win immediately at that mana investment.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.11 bulk tier
At $0.11, Etched Host Doombringer is deep bulk — you're picking it up for pennies in any binder or buylist transaction. That price is stable by nature; bulk rares with narrow synergy homes rarely spike unless a new commander pushes the archetype into prominence.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.