Exquisite Archangel
Creature — Angel
Flying
If you would lose the game, instead exile this creature and your life total becomes equal to your starting life total.
- CMC
- 7
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Aether Revolt
- Price
- $3.40
- EDHREC rank
- #12018
Exquisite Archangel resets your life total to its starting value the first time you'd lose the game — a one-shot Transcendence stapled to a 5/5 flying body for seven mana. That's a real effect, but seven mana is a steep ask for a single-use insurance policy that opponents can remove before it matters.
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 |
Exquisite Archangel is a Commander card through and through — the effect scales with multiplayer chaos, and seven mana is easier to reach in a format built around ramp. In 1v1 formats like Modern or Legacy, the combination of a high mana cost and a purely defensive trigger makes it essentially unplayable competitively; Pioneer is marginally more forgiving on pace but still too fast. Commander is where Exquisite Archangel earns its slot: life-loss synergy decks, pillowfort strategies, and combo shells that need a second chance all have genuine reasons to run it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
TranscendenceExquisite ArchangelKiki-Jiki, Mirror BreakerMind Over MatterDrogskol ReaverLaboratory ManiacScout's Warning
Infinite card draw; Infinite looting; Near-infinite copies of creatures you control; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite lifegain triggers; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite mana lands, artifacts, and creatures you control can produce; Near-infinite self-discard triggers; Near-infinite untap of artifacts, creatures, and lands; Win the game
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$3.40 cheap tier
At $3.40, Exquisite Archangel sits in the cheap tier — low enough that picking one up is a low-risk experiment. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to climb, but its uniqueness as a one-shot life-reset keeps it from bottoming out entirely.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.