Grimdancer
Creature — Nightmare
This creature enters with your choice of two different counters on it from among menace, deathtouch, and lifelink.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #14509
Grimdancer enters as a 3/3 with any two of three keyword choices — menace, deathtouch, or lifelink — making it a flexible threat that punishes opponents for blocking or ignoring it. Three mana for a customizable body with two relevant abilities is a fair rate, and in Umbris, Fear Manifest decks it pulls double duty as both an exile trigger and a hard-to-block attacker.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Umbris, Fear Manifest
Umbris, Fear Manifest exiles cards from opponents' libraries whenever a Horror or Nightmare enters under your control, and Grimdancer — a Nightmare — fires that trigger on arrival while threatening combat with a deathtouch or menace configuration that makes blocking it a losing proposition.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Grimdancer earns its slot specifically in Umbris, Fear Manifest decks, where the Nightmare creature type converts it into an exile-engine piece; outside that shell, a vanilla 3/3 with two keywords rarely clears the bar against 40-life threats. In Modern and Pioneer, three mana for a non-evasive creature with no immediate board impact is too slow — aggressive black decks want cheaper threats and midrange decks want higher ceilings. Legacy has even less patience for it. Grimdancer is a Commander card through and through, and a niche one at that.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, Grimdancer sits firmly in bulk territory — the kind of card you pick out of a box rather than order. Bulk Nightmare pieces rarely appreciate unless their commander spikes in popularity, so treat this as a free inclusion, not a hold.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Umbris, Fear Manifest
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.