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Grim Haruspex

Creature — Human Wizard

Morph {B} (You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for {3}. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
Whenever another nontoken creature you control dies, draw a card.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
rare
Set
Khans of Tarkir
Price
$2.57
EDHREC rank
#1086
Buy on TCGplayer
Grim Haruspex card art
Grim Haruspex turns every nontoken creature death into a card, and it costs three mana — that's the whole story. Decks that churn through creatures treat it as a staple; the morph clause is mostly a footnote except in commanders like Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer where even Golgari Thug becomes a draw trigger.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer

Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer

71.2% of decks · synergy 0.69

Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer flips face-down creatures constantly, and Grim Haruspex means every morph that dies replaces itself — the two engines stack into a draw rate that's hard to run out of.

02
Nalia de'Arnise

Nalia de'Arnise

67.3% of decks · synergy 0.59

Nalia de'Arnise cares about creatures with multiple creature types dying and entering, and Grim Haruspex converts that high creature turnover directly into cards without any additional setup.

03
Burakos, Party LeaderFolk Hero

Burakos, Party Leader // Folk Hero

61.4% of decks · synergy 0.53

Burakos, Party Leader // Folk Hero runs a dense party-creature package, and Grim Haruspex ensures that every combat loss or sac-outlet activation refuels the hand rather than leaving the board empty.

04
Marchesa, the Black Rose

Marchesa, the Black Rose

54.5% of decks · synergy 0.52

Marchesa, the Black Rose builds around creatures dying and returning, which means Grim Haruspex fires repeatedly on the same creatures — draw a card when they die, get them back, repeat.

05
Teysa Karlov

Teysa Karlov

55.5% of decks · synergy 0.47

Teysa Karlov doubles death triggers, and while Grim Haruspex's draw is a replacement effect rather than a triggered one, the sheer volume of creature deaths in a Teysa deck gives Grim Haruspex near-constant fuel.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Commander is where Grim Haruspex earns its keep — games go long, creature counts are high, and a three-mana enchantment that draws cards passively snowballs fast in any black sacrifice or aristocrats shell. In Legacy and Vintage, a three-mana do-nothing-immediately permanent is simply too slow; those formats kill before the payoff arrives. Modern and Pioneer have more room for midrange value, but Grim Haruspex competes against cheaper and more immediate draw engines, so it rarely makes the cut outside of dedicated sacrifice lists where the volume of deaths is guaranteed.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

192 decks
Olivia, Mobilized for WarViscera SeerGrim Haruspex

Olivia, Mobilized for WarViscera SeerGrim Haruspex

Near-infinite ETB; Infinite draw triggers; Infinite looting; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite death triggers; Near-infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite self-discard triggers

View on Commander Spellbook ↗
159 decks
Olivia, Mobilized for WarGrim HaruspexCarrion Feeder

Olivia, Mobilized for WarGrim HaruspexCarrion Feeder

Infinite draw triggers; Infinite looting; Infinite self-discard triggers; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite death triggers; Near-infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature; Near-infinite sacrifice triggers

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

$2.57 cheap tier

At $2.57, Grim Haruspex sits firmly in the cheap tier — low enough to auto-include without a second thought in any black creature-heavy Commander build. It's a staple-tier card at a bulk-rare price, and that's unlikely to change unless a reprint drives it lower.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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