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Malignus

Creature — Elemental Spirit

Malignus's power and toughness are each equal to half the highest life total among your opponents, rounded up.
Damage that would be dealt by this creature can't be prevented.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{R}{R}
Color identity
R
Rarity
mythic
Set
The List
Price
$6.22
EDHREC rank
#6966
Buy on TCGplayer
Malignus card art
Malignus enters as a creature whose power and toughness each equal half the highest life total among your opponents — at a table where someone is sitting on 40 life, that's a 20/20 for five mana that deals non-reducible damage on top of that. Xenagos, God of Revels doubles it; Brion Stoutarm flings it for lethal before anyone can answer it.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Brion Stoutarm

Brion Stoutarm

54.7% of decks · synergy 0.54

Brion Stoutarm exists to fling the biggest creature on the battlefield, and Malignus is the most reliable way to put a 20-power creature into play at instant speed on the end step before your turn. The non-reducible damage clause means the fling hits for the full amount regardless of damage prevention.

02
Xenagos, God of Revels

Xenagos, God of Revels

36.7% of decks · synergy 0.35

Xenagos, God of Revels doubles Malignus's power and grants haste on attack, turning a 20/20 into a 40/20 threat the same turn it lands. That's a one-shot commander-damage kill on any opponent who hasn't already taken damage.

03
Ziatora, the Incinerator

Ziatora, the Incinerator

35.5% of decks · synergy 0.33

Ziatora, the Incinerator sacrifices creatures at end of combat to fling three damage tokens, but the real line with Malignus is using Ziatora's sacrifice outlet to convert that massive body into a pile of Treasure after it has already swung. It's a clean way to cash in a creature that will immediately attract removal.

04
Coram, the Undertaker

Coram, the Undertaker

27.4% of decks · synergy 0.25

Coram, the Undertaker cares about high-power creatures dealing combat damage, and Malignus almost always qualifies as the highest-power creature on the board. Landing Malignus and connecting for even one hit generates the maximum card advantage Coram can offer.

05
Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder

Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder

20.7% of decks · synergy 0.18

Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder triples the power of any creature for a single sacrifice, and a tripled Malignus attacking into a full life-total table closes the game in one swing. The synergy is straightforward power multiplication on a creature already scaled to the table's life totals.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Malignus lives — 40-life starting totals mean it enters as a 20/20 at minimum, a size that barely exists elsewhere in the format for five mana. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but competes against formats that end the game before a five-mana vanilla-ish creature matters, so it sees essentially no play there. Modern similarly has no interest; five mana gets you finishers that either protect themselves or close immediately, and Malignus does neither reliably in a 20-life format where it's likely a 10/10 at best. Oathbreaker shares the 40-life starting point, which keeps Malignus relevant, though the lower deck consistency makes it harder to assemble the doubling or fling payoffs that make it genuinely threatening.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Gigantosaurus and Ghalta, Primal Hunger both offer comparable or larger bodies for similar or less mana, though neither scales dynamically to life totals the way Malignus does. If the goal is a massive fling target for Brion Stoutarm specifically, Phyrexian Dreadnought enters as a 12/12 for one mana and immediately satisfies the sacrifice trigger before the drawback resolves — a different line, but cheaper and harder to interact with on the stack.

Price Context

Current price

$6.22 mid tier

At $6.22, Malignus sits in the mid tier — not a budget throwaway, but not a barrier to building around either. It's a fair price for a card with a narrow but devoted home in Commander; casual demand from Brion Stoutarm and Xenagos, God of Revels lists keeps the floor stable.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.