Lone Missionary
Creature — Kor Monk
When this creature enters, you gain 4 life.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Price
- $0.14
- EDHREC rank
- #20507
Lone Missionary enters, gains you 4 life, and then just stands there as a 2/1 — the lifelink is a one-time trigger, not a sustained engine. Unless The Archimandrite or a similar lifegain payoff is in play to convert that 4 life into something real, this is a worse Healer's Hawk with worse legs.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
The Archimandrite
The Archimandrite turns every point of lifegain into cards and stats, so Lone Missionary's enter-the-battlefield 4-life burst immediately translates into a draw trigger and a counter on your team — making what is otherwise a forgettable 2/1 a functional card-advantage piece on turn two.
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, Lone Missionary earns its slot almost exclusively in dedicated lifegain decks where the 4-life trigger chains into something — an Archangel of Thune counter, a Soul Warden ping, or a The Archimandrite draw. Outside that context, 4 life is negligible in a 40-life format and a 2/1 body is irrelevant. In Pauper, Lone Missionary has seen fringe play in white-based control and Soul Sisters-style lists as a cheap stabilizer against aggressive red decks, where 4 life genuinely buys a turn. Legacy and Vintage have no interest; the effect is too small for formats that end games on turn one or two. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander — run it only if your signature spell or planeswalker rewards the life total.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.14 bulk tier
At $0.14, Lone Missionary is deep bulk — you'll find copies in any commons box for less than the shipping cost. It won't appreciate; it's a simple common that sees narrow, niche play, so buy exactly as many as you need and nothing more.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.