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Marina Vendrell's Grimoire

Legendary Artifact — Book

When Marina Vendrell's Grimoire enters, if you cast it, draw five cards.
You have no maximum hand size and don't lose the game for having 0 or less life.
Whenever you gain life, draw that many cards.
Whenever you lose life, discard that many cards. Then if you have no cards in hand, you lose the game.

CMC
6
Mana cost
{5}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
Duskmourn: House of Horror
Price
$0.31
EDHREC rank
#7611
Buy on TCGplayer
Marina Vendrell's Grimoire card art
Marina Vendrell's Grimoire turns every draw into a drain trigger — the moment it's on the table, your opponents are losing life just for you doing what blue-black decks want to do anyway. Queza, Augur of Agonies is the obvious home: Queza already punishes opponents when you draw, and the Grimoire stacks that pressure without asking you to change a single line of your game plan.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Queza, Augur of Agonies

Queza, Augur of Agonies

31.8% of decks · synergy 0.31

Queza, Augur of Agonies already drains for each card drawn, and Marina Vendrell's Grimoire doubles down on that trigger — every draw step becomes a two-source life-loss event without any additional setup.

02
Zedruu the Greathearted

Zedruu the Greathearted

27.5% of decks · synergy 0.26

Zedruu the Greathearted donates permanents and draws cards at the upkeep, so Marina Vendrell's Grimoire turns that passive engine into incremental drain each turn cycle while Zedruu does its normal thing.

03
Will, Scion of Peace

Will, Scion of Peace

15.2% of decks · synergy 0.14

Will, Scion of Peace reduces costs based on life lost by opponents, and Marina Vendrell's Grimoire chips away at those totals steadily enough that Will's cost reductions kick in earlier and more reliably.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Commander is where Marina Vendrell's Grimoire belongs — three opponents means every draw trigger drains the table simultaneously, and decks built around high card draw volume can close games with it as a passive win condition. In Oathbreaker the same logic applies at a smaller table, though the faster pace means it needs to land early to matter. In competitive 60-card formats like Modern or Pioneer, a four-mana artifact that does nothing the turn it arrives and requires a full draw engine to payoff is too slow to see serious play. Legacy and Vintage have the raw card draw density to theoretically abuse it, but neither format is short on faster, more broken ways to win.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.31 bulk tier

At $0.31, Marina Vendrell's Grimoire is firmly bulk — you can pick up a copy without thinking twice about the investment. Bulk rares with narrow, build-around appeal tend to stay at this price floor, so don't expect movement unless a new commander pushes the archetype into the spotlight.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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