MagicTheGathering.fyi

Merchant of Venom

Creature — Cat Warlock

Menace
When this creature enters, each player sacrifices a creature of their choice.
Whenever a player sacrifices a permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.

CMC
4
Mana cost
{3}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
rare
Set
Secrets of Strixhaven Commander
Price
$0.44
EDHREC rank
#14642
Buy on TCGplayer
Merchant of Venom card art
Merchant of Venom drains each opponent for 1 on entry and pumps a creature — immediate life-loss on a body, no setup required. The ceiling rises sharply once Animation Module or Dina, Essence Brewer enters the picture, turning each +1/+1 counter into a recursive drain loop.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Dina, Essence Brewer

Dina, Essence Brewer

51.5% of decks · synergy 0.46

Dina, Essence Brewer converts every point of life loss into a pump trigger, so Merchant of Venom's drain-on-entry feeds Dina directly and the +1/+1 counter it hands out can chain into a Saproling via Animation Module for even more life loss — a clean two-card engine that half of all Dina decks already run.

02
Fumulus, the Infestation

Fumulus, the Infestation

11.1% of decks · synergy 0.10

Fumulus, the Infestation cares about putting counters on creatures and generating tokens, and Merchant of Venom delivers a +1/+1 counter the moment it lands — cheap, reliable fuel for the Fungus counter-accumulation engine that Fumulus pilots.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Merchant of Venom lives almost entirely in Commander, where multiplayer math makes draining each opponent for 1 on entry worth roughly three times its single-player value. In Oathbreaker the math is similar, and the card is legal there as well. Legacy and Vintage allow it, but a three-mana 2/3 that drains for 1 can't clear the bar in those formats — faster threats and more efficient interaction make it invisible at competitive tables. Stick to Commander and Oathbreaker, where the drain scales and the counter has somewhere useful to go.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.44 bulk tier

At $0.44, Merchant of Venom is deep bulk — you'll pay more in shipping than for the card itself. Bulk rares rarely appreciate unless they land in a breakout combo deck, so treat this as a cheap pickup for any build that wants the effect, not a spec target.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

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