Great Unclean One
Creature — Demon
Reverberating Summons — At the beginning of your end step, each opponent loses 2 life. Then for each opponent who has less life than you, create a 1/3 black Demon creature token named Plaguebearer of Nurgle.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Warhammer 40,000 Commander
- Price
- $5.35
- EDHREC rank
- #4982
Great Unclean One hits the board as a 7/7 with lifelink and two triggered abilities that generate tokens and drain opponents on every spell cast — it is one of the most threatening daemon bodies in the format. The eight-mana cost is real, but Be'lakor, the Dark Master decks and any shell running daemon-tribal or life-drain payoffs will pay it without hesitation.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Be'lakor, the Dark Master
Great Unclean One is one of the highest-impact daemon bodies you can slot under Be'lakor, the Dark Master — its token generation and drain triggers compound directly with Be'lakor's draw engine, turning every spell into card advantage and life loss simultaneously.
Ardyn, the Usurper
Ardyn, the Usurper's damage-counter strategy rewards large, threatening bodies that pressure opponents every turn, and Great Unclean One's lifelink plus drain output keeps Ardyn's pilot ahead on life while steadily loading up the counter engine.
Raphael, Fiendish Savior
Raphael, Fiendish Savior cares about daemons entering and dying, and Great Unclean One is one of the premier daemon payoffs in the color identity — its token generation feeds Raphael's graveyard-recursion and deathtouch-anthem lines.
Abaddon the Despoiler
Abaddon the Despoiler rewards casting spells with cascade, and Great Unclean One's triggered abilities mean each cascaded spell does extra work — generating tokens and draining life before Abaddon's chaos even resolves.
Mogis, God of Slaughter
Mogis, God of Slaughter is a grind-and-drain deck at heart, and Great Unclean One layers additional forced life loss onto a strategy that is already bleeding opponents turn over turn.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Great Unclean One actually lives — the format's slower clock, four-player life totals, and daemon-tribal support make its eight-mana body worth building around. In Legacy and Vintage it is technically legal but functionally irrelevant; fair creature decks don't pay eight mana for a single body when those formats end games on turns two and three. Oathbreaker shares Commander's multiplayer texture, so Great Unclean One can show up there in the 58, though the lower starting life total mutes some of its drain impact.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Syr Konrad, the Grim gives you a cheaper drain-on-every-creature-event effect for a fraction of the cost, though it lacks Great Unclean One's raw stat line and token generation. Kokusho, the Evening Star is another large drain body at a similar or lower price point and hits harder on death, but it won't generate the on-cast triggers that make Great Unclean One a continuous engine.
Price Context
Current price
$5.35 mid tier
At $5.35, Great Unclean One sits in the mid tier — affordable enough that budget players won't flinch, but not a throwaway include. It holds steady because daemon-tribal demand is real and the card has no functional reprint that undercuts it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Be'lakor, the Dark Master
- Ardyn, the Usurper
- Raphael, Fiendish Savior
- Abaddon the Despoiler
- Mogis, God of Slaughter
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.