Illusory Demon
Creature — Demon Illusion
Flying
When you cast a spell, sacrifice this creature.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BU
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Alara Reborn
- Price
- $0.08
- EDHREC rank
- #30045
Illusory Demon lands as a 4/3 flyer for two mana — an absurd rate — but it sacrifices itself the moment you cast another spell. That conditional clause makes it a build-around rather than a free inclusion, and it only earns its slot in decks that can exploit the sacrifice or simply don't cast spells on the turns it needs to survive.
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 |
In Commander, Illusory Demon is too fragile for most 100-card piles — a 4/3 flyer that dies to your own spell-slinging is a liability in a format built around stacking value turn after turn. It fits narrowest in sacrifice-matters builds where the self-removal is the point, not the problem. In Legacy and Vintage, the aggressive rate is real, but the constraint is punishing in formats that demand interaction every turn; dedicated Illusion tribal or tempo shells that plan around holding mana and staying on one spell per turn are the only homes where it competes. Modern has enough two-mana threats without self-destruct clauses that Illusory Demon rarely makes the cut outside of extremely narrow tribal contexts.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.08 bulk tier
At $0.08, Illusory Demon is deep bulk — you're not paying for the card, you're paying for the shipping. It won't hold or gain value, but that's irrelevant: you pick it up as a functional piece for a specific deck, not as anything worth tracking.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.