Imperious Inkmage
Creature — Orc Warlock
Vigilance
When this creature enters, surveil 2. (Look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BW
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven
- Price
- $0.08
- EDHREC rank
- #27431
Imperious Inkmage enters with a +1/+1 counter, produces Ink creature tokens on command, and spreads counters to your team — meaningful board presence for three mana. The cost is speed: it needs mana to activate and doesn't threaten to close a game alone.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Imperious Inkmage slots cleanly into any deck that cares about +1/+1 counters or token production — Atraxa, Praetors' Voice lists and Hamza, Guardian of Arashin shells both want exactly this kind of incremental engine. In 60-card formats like Modern and Pioneer, it's too slow and too fragile to see serious play; three mana for a 2/2 with an activated ability gets outpaced by the turn it resolves. Pauper is where Imperious Inkmage might actually compete on rate, since the commons format is more tolerant of grind-oriented value creatures. Standard is the most welcoming 60-card environment for it right now, assuming a counters or tokens synergy package exists in the meta.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.08 bulk tier
At $0.08, Imperious Inkmage is pure bulk — you're paying for the cardboard, not the card. That price is stable by definition: bulk rares don't drop further, but they only climb if Commander demand picks up around a specific synergy archetype.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.