Evolving Adaptive
Creature — Phyrexian Warrior
This creature enters with an oil counter on it.
This creature gets +1/+1 for each oil counter on it.
Whenever another creature you control enters, if that creature has greater power or toughness than this creature, put an oil counter on this creature.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Phyrexia: All Will Be One
- Price
- $0.26
- EDHREC rank
- #16158
Evolving Adaptive is a two-mana creature that grows a +1/+1 counter every time you cast a spell of a new color — in a multicolor-heavy Commander shell, it can become a serious threat by the midgame without any additional investment. The cost is that it does nothing on its own and needs a commander or deck built around casting multiple colors to pay off.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Evolving Adaptive is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it's fundamentally a Commander card — the slower, more spell-dense games in 100-card multicolor decks are where it actually accumulates counters into something threatening. In Modern or Pioneer, it's too slow and too conditional; a two-drop that requires you to cast spells across four or five colors before it becomes a real beater has no home in competitive 60-card formats. Commander is the format where five-color or heavily multicolor decks like Jodah, Progenitus, or Najeela lists can realistically hit every color trigger in a single game, making Evolving Adaptive a legitimate late-game threat that costs almost nothing to include.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.26 bulk tier
At $0.26, Evolving Adaptive is pure bulk — you're not paying for it, you're finding it in a common box. It won't hold or gain value, but that's irrelevant: you run it because the slot is essentially free, not because of any financial calculation.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.