Hemlock Vial
Artifact
When this artifact enters, you draw a card and you lose 1 life.
, 
, Sacrifice this artifact: Each equipped creature and Equipment you control gains deathtouch until end of turn.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Assassin's Creed
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #19415
Hemlock Vial puts a poison counter on any creature you target — a unique form of attrition that bypasses toughness and accumulates toward a ten-counter kill. The cost keeps it honest, but in the right shell it's a repeatable threat that most tables aren't prepared to answer.
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 |
Hemlock Vial is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but realistically it belongs to Commander. Poison as a win condition needs time and repeated activations to close games, and Commander's longer arc gives Hemlock Vial the runway it needs. In Legacy or Modern, the format is too fast and interaction too dense for a slow poison-accumulation artifact to matter — better options exist for any deck that wants to win through non-combat damage. Commander is where the ten-counter threshold becomes a genuine alternate win condition rather than a novelty.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Hemlock Vial isn't available yet, likely because it's a recent or unlisted release. Check Scryfall or your preferred vendor for current market rates before picking one up.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.