Hellfire Mongrel
Creature — Elemental Dog
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, if that player has two or fewer cards in hand, this creature deals 2 damage to that player.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Duel Decks: Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas
- Price
- $0.35
- EDHREC rank
- #21691
Hellfire Mongrel drains each opponent for 1 at the end of every turn they end with no cards in hand — passive, repeatable, and requiring zero mana to trigger. The cost is that it does nothing until opponents empty their hands, making it a slow clock that earns its slot only in dedicated discard strategies.
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 |
Hellfire Mongrel is strictly a Commander card in practice — multiplayer means the trigger can fire against three opponents simultaneously, tripling the drain without any additional investment. In Legacy, Modern, or Vintage, a three-mana 2/1 with a conditional end-of-turn trigger is far too slow and fragile to compete, and dedicated discard strategies in those formats have far more efficient payoffs. Commander is where the math works: in a four-player game with a functional discard package, Hellfire Mongrel represents six or more life drained per round, which compounds quickly alongside other Tinybones-style engines.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.35 bulk tier
At $0.35, Hellfire Mongrel is deep bulk — easy to pick up as a throw-in or cheap addition to a discard order. The price is unlikely to move without a high-profile Commander reprint or a sudden spike in Tinybones popularity, so there's no urgency either way.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.