Magus of the Abyss
Creature — Human Wizard
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, destroy target nonartifact creature that player controls of their choice. It can't be regenerated.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander 2017
- Price
- $0.22
- EDHREC rank
- #15601
Magus of the Abyss wipes the board of non-black creatures every upkeep — an effect powerful enough to lock aggressive decks out of the game entirely. The cost is real: it hits your own creatures too, so it belongs in decks built to ignore that downside, not jammed into every black shell.
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 Magus of the Abyss does its best work — three opponents fielding non-black creatures means the upkeep trigger is almost always live, and the political asymmetry it creates is difficult to ignore. In Legacy and Vintage, the card is legal but sees virtually no play; those formats move too fast for a four-mana creature that needs a full turn cycle to generate value. Modern is the same story: the four-mana slot is brutally competitive and creature-based removal at sorcery speed doesn't cut it. Magus of the Abyss is a Commander card dressed in older-format legality.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.22 bulk tier
At $0.22, Magus of the Abyss is deep bulk — you're picking this up out of a dollar bin or a cheap online order filler. The price is unlikely to move meaningfully given its narrow competitive application, but for what it does in Commander, you're getting an enormous effect per cent spent.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.