Grim Servant
Creature — Zombie Warlock
Menace
When this creature enters, search your library for a card with mana value less than or equal to your devotion to black, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle. You lose 3 life. (Each 
in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to black.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Modern Horizons 3
- Price
- $0.33
- EDHREC rank
- #3970
Grim Servant enters the battlefield and immediately reanimates a creature from your graveyard — the catch is that creature gets sacrificed at the beginning of your next end step. In Zul Ashur, Lich Lord builds and any shell that wants repeated enter-the-battlefield triggers or treats sacrifice as a feature, that delayed cost is the point, not the problem.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Zul Ashur, Lich Lord
Zul Ashur, Lich Lord rewards you for playing Zombies and recurring threats, and Grim Servant slots in as a recursive engine piece that brings back a value creature, lets you squeeze out another trigger, then feeds the sacrifice loop all over again.
Acererak the Archlich
Acererak the Archlich wants Zombies entering and dying on a reliable clock, and Grim Servant delivers both — it returns a threat on entry and guarantees a sacrifice trigger at end step without requiring any additional setup.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed gives non-Humans undying, which means any non-Human creature Grim Servant reanimates comes back a second time after the forced sacrifice, turning the liability into a two-for-one loop.
Phage the Untouchable
Phage the Untouchable is notoriously hard to cast from hand without losing the game, so Phage the Untouchable decks run every legitimate reanimation effect available — Grim Servant is one of the cheapest ways to put Phage directly onto the battlefield from the graveyard.
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born untaps and grows whenever you sacrifice a creature, so the mandatory sacrifice clause on Grim Servant is free fuel — recur a Zombie, attack with Grimgrin, sacrifice the reanimate target to untap and pump.
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 |
Commander is where Grim Servant does its real work — graveyard synergies, sacrifice loops, and recursive engines are staples of the format, and a creature that reanimates on entry and self-sacrifices fits those strategies without any additional infrastructure. In Legacy and Vintage, the effect is real but slow; dedicated reanimator shells have faster, unconditional options and no reason to pay two mana for a body with a built-in expiration date. Modern is the same story — the format's graveyard decks want immediacy, and Grim Servant's delay is a structural disadvantage against disruption-heavy fields. Stick to Commander, where the payoff commanders that make the forced sacrifice irrelevant are plentiful.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.33 bulk tier
At $0.33, Grim Servant is firmly bulk — easy to pick up as a throw-in or cheap singles order. Bulk creatures with narrow synergy profiles rarely move on price unless a breakout commander pushes demand, so don't expect appreciation, but at this price you're not taking a risk either.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.