Gore Vassal
Creature — Phyrexian Dog
Sacrifice this creature: Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature. Then if that creature's toughness is 1 or greater, regenerate it.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Mirrodin Besieged
- Price
- $0.05
- EDHREC rank
- #27917
Gore Vassal puts a -1/-1 counter on any creature the moment it dies, which turns any board wipe or combat step into a secondary removal spell. The cost is a 2/1 body for two mana that does nothing until something dies — Athreos, Shroud-Veiled and similar death-trigger commanders make that passivity irrelevant.
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 |
Gore Vassal is a Commander card in practice — the format's high creature density and multiplayer combat make the death trigger fire constantly, and commanders like Athreos, Shroud-Veiled extract extra value from every creature that enters and leaves the battlefield. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but competes with far more efficient interaction, and no competitive shell wants a 2/1 that waits for something to die. Modern is the same story: the effect is real but the rate is too slow for a format defined by turns three and four. Stick to Commander, where the trigger compounds across three opponents' boards.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Athreos, Shroud-VeiledSkullbriar, the Walking GraveGore Vassal
Draw the game; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.05 bulk tier
Gore Vassal is bulk at $0.05 — the kind of card you pull from a common box without noticing the price. At that floor there's no meaningful downside risk, and casual demand for death-trigger pieces keeps it from spiking.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.