Leeching Bite
Instant
Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn. Another target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- New Phyrexia
- Price
- $0.04
- EDHREC rank
- #29483
Leeching Bite gives a target creature +2/+2 and another creature -2/-2 until end of turn — two relevant bodies shift on one card for a single green mana, which is real efficiency. It's a combat trick and a removal-adjacent spell rolled together, and at one mana it asks almost nothing to hold up.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Leeching Bite is niche but honest — it kills a small blocker or threatens a combat ambush while keeping your mana up, and the +2/+2 bonus can make a poisonous attacker suddenly lethal. Pauper is where it sees the most daylight, particularly in infect shells where the -2/-2 doubles as a kill condition on a 2-toughness creature and the pump closes games. In Legacy and Vintage, the competition for one-mana green tricks is stiff enough that Leeching Bite rarely makes the cut outside very focused aggro strategies. Modern is similar — the effect is clean but the format demands more durable or wider-reaching interaction.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.04 bulk tier
At $0.04, Leeching Bite is deep bulk — a throw-in at any vendor and essentially free to acquire. Bulk commons at this price point don't move unless a new infect or -1/-1 counter shell breaks out, so don't expect any price pressure.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.