Hand of the Praetors
Creature — Phyrexian Zombie
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Other creatures you control with infect get +1/+1.
Whenever you cast a creature spell with infect, target player gets a poison counter.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Scars of Mirrodin
- Price
- $5.02
- EDHREC rank
- #9049
Hand of the Praetors puts a +1/+1 counter on every Infect creature you cast and drains an opponent for 1 whenever you drop another Infect creature — that recursive pressure adds up fast. Four mana is the honest cost, and in any dedicated Infect shell it earns every penny.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is a mono-black Infect commander, which means Hand of the Praetors is an automatic inclusion — it buffs Skithiryx on cast and turns every subsequent Infect creature into a free drain trigger that accelerates the poison clock.
Agent Frank Horrigan
Agent Frank Horrigan's ability cares about putting counters on creatures, so Hand of the Praetors does double duty: it stacks +1/+1 counters while the drain triggers chip opponents down in parallel with the counters-matter payoffs Agent Frank Horrigan already rewards.
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 |
Hand of the Praetors is a Commander card through and through — Infect is a fringe strategy in Legacy and Vintage where the fast combo and disruption ecosystems make a four-mana lord nearly unplayable, and it's absent from Pioneer and Standard entirely. In Commander, the multiplayer drain trigger is the real upside: each opponent takes 1 damage per Infect creature you cast, so a table of three opponents means three damage per cast without any combat. That incremental life loss pairs with poison counters to split opponents' defenses, and the anthem effect means your Infect creatures need fewer hits to finish someone off.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Triumph of the Hordes fills a similar role at a lower price point by giving your whole board Infect and trample for one turn, though it's a one-shot rather than a persistent lord. If you want a body that sticks around, Grafted Exoskeleton and Tainted Strike grant Infect to creatures that wouldn't otherwise have it, but neither provides the counter-stacking anthem that makes Hand of the Praetors the stronger long-game piece.
Price Context
Current price
$5.02 mid tier
At $5.02, Hand of the Praetors sits in the mid tier — not a budget pickup, but firmly within reason for a card that's a near-auto-include in its archetype. It's a narrow enough card that demand is mostly ceiling'd by Infect Commander decks, so the price is unlikely to spike dramatically outside a reprint.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.