Imaginary Pet
Creature — Illusion
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have a card in hand, return this creature to its owner's hand.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Urza's Saga
- Price
- $0.53
- EDHREC rank
- #23742
Imaginary Pet is a 4/4 for two mana — that rate is real, and the cumulative upkeep cost only matters if you're actually planning to keep it past the early turns. In practice, it pairs cleanly with Lore Drakkis and similar recursion engines that treat the discard trigger as a feature, not a bug.
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 |
Imaginary Pet sees essentially zero competitive play in Legacy, Modern, or Vintage — formats where a conditional 4/4 with a recurring cost can't compete with the density of threats available. Commander is where Imaginary Pet finds a niche, specifically in blue decks that want cheap discard fodder for reanimator or spellslinger loops; the cumulative upkeep becomes irrelevant when you're engineering a bounce or recur line rather than paying it honestly. Outside of that specific shell, it's a novelty.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.53 bulk tier
At $0.53, Imaginary Pet is deep bulk — you're buying it for the specific discard-synergy angle, not because the market assigns it any broader value. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to move without a new commander printing that explicitly rewards this interaction.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.