Imperial Recruiter
Creature — Human Advisor
When this creature enters, search your library for a creature card with power 2 or less, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Judge Gift Cards 2013
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #620
Imperial Recruiter is a three-mana tutor that puts a creature with power 2 or less directly into your hand — access to almost every combo piece, value engine, or disruptive body in red's toolbox. The cost is real: three mana sorcery-speed with a 1/1 body attached is not fast, but the card it fetches is almost always worth more than the tempo loss, and in Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver shells it routinely closes the gap between a mediocre hand and a winning line.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver
Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver runs creature-sacrifice loops that lean on specific low-power bodies, and Imperial Recruiter finds whichever piece is missing — whether that's a cost-reducer, a sac outlet, or a payoff — with a single cast.
Krark, the Thumbless // Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
Krark, the Thumbless // Sakashima of a Thousand Faces wants redundant spell-copying creatures and cheap wizards to fuel its coin-flip engine, and Imperial Recruiter tutors directly into that pile while itself being a legal Sakashima copy target.
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death's entire game plan is built around creatures with power 2 or less, which means Imperial Recruiter's search restriction is essentially no restriction at all — every toolbox target in the deck is findable.
Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator needs pirates and combat triggers to snowball, and Imperial Recruiter finds the low-power pirates or haste enablers that turn Malcolm's trigger into a mana engine on the spot.
Etali, Primal Conqueror
Etali, Primal Conqueror shells use Imperial Recruiter to find haste enablers and attack-trigger doublers that get Etali into the red zone a full turn earlier than the curve would otherwise allow.
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 |
Commander is where Imperial Recruiter does its best work — singleton construction means any toolbox piece you're missing can be found on demand, and red's weakness at creature tutoring makes a card this flexible genuinely rare. In Legacy, it sees fringe play in creature-combo shells that need redundant lines, though Goblin Matron is strictly better in Goblin decks and the competition for three-mana slots is brutal. Vintage allows it but the format's speed renders sorcery-speed tutors marginal without a busted shell built around them. Imperial Recruiter is not legal in Pioneer, Standard, or Pauper, so Commander and the older 60-card formats are its entire home.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't available at the moment for Imperial Recruiter — check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for current market price before buying. Historically it has been a premium card given its unique tutoring effect in red, so verify whether a reprint has shifted the floor before pulling the trigger.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver
- Krark, the Thumbless // Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
- Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
- Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar // Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
- Etali, Primal Conqueror
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.