Host of the Hereafter
Creature — Zombie Warlock
This creature enters with two +1/+1 counters on it.
Whenever this creature or another creature you control dies, if it had counters on it, put its counters on up to one target creature you control.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BG
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Tarkir: Dragonstorm
- Price
- $0.30
- EDHREC rank
- #8149
Host of the Hereafter lands as a three-power flier that immediately drains each opponent for the number of creatures you control — in a wide board state, that's a game-ending life swing before it ever attacks. The cost is seven mana and the body dying to every Doom Blade effect, but commanders like Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and Jenova, Ancient Calamity can deploy it into a full board, making the enters-the-battlefield trigger do the work before removal resolves.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Jenova, Ancient Calamity
Jenova, Ancient Calamity copies Host of the Hereafter on entry, which means two drain triggers off the same board state — at 53% inclusion across Jenova decks, the synergy score of 0.51 reflects exactly how backbreaking that doubled life-loss becomes.
Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan
Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan rewards building a creature-dense midrange board, and Host of the Hereafter converts that wide presence directly into a life-drain payoff that pressures all three opponents at once.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Host of the Hereafter is a Commander card — the drain trigger scales with creature count in ways that only a 100-card, four-player format can fully reward. In Modern and Pioneer it's a seven-mana 3/3 with flying, which is unplayable in any competitive context where the game ends on turn four. Standard is the only 60-card format where it could see fringe play in a token-flooding shell, though at that cost it would need the meta to slow down considerably. Legacy and Vintage have no interest. The Oathbreaker ruling keeps it legal, but the same math that makes it explosive in Commander makes it clunky when you're targeting one player with a 20-life total.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Hapatra, Vizier of PoisonsHost of the Hereafter
Infinite LTB; Infinite ETB; Infinite death triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.30 bulk tier
At $0.30, Host of the Hereafter is bulk — pick it up without hesitation if the deck wants it. Bulk rares with real Commander synergy can tick up when they're rediscovered, but this is a card you grab now for its effect, not to sit on.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.