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Genestealer Patriarch

Creature — Tyranid

Genestealer's Kiss — Whenever this creature attacks, put an infection counter on target creature defending player controls.
Children of the Cult — Whenever a creature with an infection counter on it dies, you create a token that's a copy of that creature, except it's a Tyranid in addition to its other types.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{4}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
Warhammer 40,000 Commander
Price
$0.37
EDHREC rank
#14830
Buy on TCGplayer
Genestealer Patriarch card art
Genestealer Patriarch lands as a five-mana 5/5 with infect that spreads poison counters across all your creatures whenever it attacks — a wide-board threat that poisons out a table faster than most decks can answer. The catch is a five-mana investment in a color pair that already competes for slots, so you run it because the payoff with Resourceful Defense or under The Swarmlord is immediate and backbreaking.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
The Swarmlord

The Swarmlord

43.4% of decks · synergy 0.42

The Swarmlord is the natural home — Genestealer Patriarch's poison-spreading attack trigger stacks directly with The Swarmlord's draw-on-poison-counters ability, turning a single swing into card advantage and a clock at the same time.

02
Kros, Defense Contractor

Kros, Defense Contractor

11.8% of decks · synergy 0.12

Kros, Defense Contractor's counter-manipulation gameplan gives Genestealer Patriarch's infect creatures a political angle, using goad and proliferate effects to push poison counters onto opponents who are already busy swinging at each other.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Genestealer Patriarch actually lives — 43% inclusion in The Swarmlord lists alone makes that clear, and the poison-spreading attack trigger is built for multiplayer tables where landing three to four poison counters on multiple opponents in one swing is plausible. Legacy and Vintage allow it but the card simply doesn't compete there; infect strategies in those formats want cheaper, faster threats that don't require a five-mana setup. Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper are all off the table legally. Oathbreaker is worth a mention if you're running a Vorinclex or Atraxa signature-spell shell, since the attack trigger gets out of hand fast with proliferate support.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.37 bulk tier

At $0.37, Genestealer Patriarch is bulk — easy to acquire and easy to cut without remorse if the meta calls for it. Bulk rares with niche-but-real homes tend to stay flat unless a new commander pushes demand, so grab it cheap and don't expect movement.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.