Mandate of Abaddon
Sorcery
Choose target creature you control. Destroy all creatures with power less than that creature's power.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Warhammer 40,000 Commander
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #4449
Mandate of Abaddon wipes every creature an opponent controls for a single black mana when you have the biggest creature on board — the cost is trivially met in decks built around one massive threat. Yargle and Multani, a 9/9 for five, clears the table the turn it attacks and leaves your opponent with nothing to block.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Yargle and Multani
Yargle and Multani is a 9/9 that trivially outsizes every token, mana dork, and utility creature on the table, so Mandate of Abaddon resolves as a one-sided board wipe the moment it hits play — 45% of Yargle and Multani decks run it for exactly that reason.
Abaddon the Despoiler
Abaddon the Despoiler rewards casting spells on opponents' turns, and Mandate of Abaddon — a one-mana instant — is a clean cascade trigger that also clears blockers before a swing.
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave accumulates +1/+1 counters aggressively, and Mandate of Abaddon turns that growing power into removal insurance, wiping whatever stands in the way once Skullbriar clears the size threshold.
Kresh the Bloodbraided
Kresh the Bloodbraided gets a +1/+1 counter for each creature that dies, so Mandate of Abaddon doesn't just clear a path — it also stacks Kresh to lethal size in a single trigger chain.
Vincent Valentine
Vincent Valentine transforms based on combat and creature manipulation, and Mandate of Abaddon provides a low-cost instant-speed reset that clears opposition while keeping Vincent's own board state intact.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Mandate of Abaddon is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but Commander is the only format where it's doing real work. In Legacy and Vintage the creature landscape is too fast and too resilient — one-sided board wipes conditional on your creature being the largest don't map well onto formats where Murktide Regent or Eldrazi dominate and interaction needs to be unconditional. Oathbreaker is a viable home for the same reason Commander is: multiplayer pods let you wait for the right power threshold, and planeswalker-centric decks often run a single large creature that naturally satisfies the condition. Mandate of Abaddon belongs in Commander, specifically in decks built around one oversized threat.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Mandate of Abaddon isn't currently available, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the current market rate before buying. Given its 40%+ inclusion rate in its highest-synergy commanders, demand is real — pick it up if you find it at a reasonable buylist price rather than waiting.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.