Hideous Taskmaster
Creature — Eldrazi
Devoid (This card has no color.)
When you cast this spell, for each opponent, gain control of up to one target creature that player controls until end of turn. Untap those creatures. They gain trample, haste, and annihilator 1 until end of turn.
Trample, haste, annihilator 1 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices a permanent of their choice.)
- CMC
- 7
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Modern Horizons 3 Commander
- Price
- $2.63
- EDHREC rank
- #3473
Hideous Taskmaster enters and immediately pumps every Eldrazi you control, then taxes your opponents one life each time one of those creatures attacks — all for five mana. It's a two-sentence engine in one card, and Herigast, Erupting Nullkite decks run it in over 70% of lists for exactly that reason.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Herigast, Erupting Nullkite
Herigast, Erupting Nullkite cheats large Eldrazi into play constantly, and Hideous Taskmaster converts that board presence into a life-drain clock that stacks fast when you're swinging with multiple threats each turn.
Ulalek, Fused Atrocity
Ulalek, Fused Atrocity copies triggered abilities across every Eldrazi you cast, so Hideous Taskmaster's enter-the-battlefield pump and attack trigger both become even more punishing at scale.
Alena, Kessig Trapper // Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood
Alena, Kessig Trapper // Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood ramps hard into big Eldrazi, and Hideous Taskmaster gives that board a way to pressure life totals beyond raw combat damage.
Zidane, Tantalus Thief
Zidane, Tantalus Thief rewards attacking repeatedly, and Hideous Taskmaster's per-attack life drain layers on additional inevitability every combat step.
Edea, Possessed Sorceress
Edea, Possessed Sorceress cares about a wide creature base triggering on attacks, making Hideous Taskmaster a natural fit for stacking incremental damage across multiple combats.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Hideous Taskmaster is a Commander card through and through — its value scales with a wide Eldrazi board, which is a condition that 100-card singleton decks are built to sustain. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but will never see play; five mana for a non-evasive creature with a conditional drain trigger is far too slow for those formats. Oathbreaker offers the same tribal synergy axis as Commander in a smaller package, and dedicated Eldrazi builds there will find the same use case. Everywhere else, it's simply not legal.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.63 cheap tier
At $2.63, Hideous Taskmaster sits at the cheap end of the market for a build-around rare with a 70%+ inclusion rate in its primary home. Given how narrowly it's played — almost exclusively in Eldrazi tribal Commander decks — don't expect the price to move much in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Herigast, Erupting Nullkite
- Ulalek, Fused Atrocity
- Alena, Kessig Trapper // Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood
- Zidane, Tantalus Thief
- Edea, Possessed Sorceress
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.