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Nest of Scarabs

Enchantment

Whenever you put one or more -1/-1 counters on a creature, create that many 1/1 black Insect creature tokens.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Amonkhet Remastered
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#3498
Buy on TCGplayer
Nest of Scarabs card art
Nest of Scarabs turns every -1/-1 counter placed anywhere into a 1/1 Insect token, which means a single proliferate effect or a Blowfly Infestation loop can flood the board in a single turn. The Scorpion God decks in particular treat it as a near-mandatory inclusion — three mana for an enchantment that converts your commander's counter output directly into an army is an obvious rate.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
The Scorpion God

The Scorpion God

91.5% of decks · synergy 0.91

The Scorpion God distributes -1/-1 counters as a core mechanic, so Nest of Scarabs converts every trigger into a token while the God refills your hand off the creatures that die — the two cards form a self-sustaining value loop.

02
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons

Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons

86.2% of decks · synergy 0.84

Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons already makes a Snake token whenever she places a -1/-1 counter on a creature, and Nest of Scarabs doubles that output by adding an Insect alongside it — running both means each counter event produces two bodies.

03
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

81.9% of decks · synergy 0.78

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician pays life to place -1/-1 counters as a repeatable activated ability, so Nest of Scarabs essentially reads 'pay 1 life, sacrifice a creature: make a 1/1 Insect' — it feeds the engine that Yawgmoth needs to go infinite.

04
Massacre Girl, Known Killer

Massacre Girl, Known Killer

78.4% of decks · synergy 0.75

Massacre Girl, Known Killer gives all her spells wither, so every creature she kills or buffs distributes -1/-1 counters, and Nest of Scarabs converts that board-wide attrition into tokens that survive the board wipe she's inevitably setting up.

05
Auntie Ool, Cursewretch

Auntie Ool, Cursewretch

64.9% of decks · synergy 0.60

Auntie Ool, Cursewretch cares about distributing -1/-1 counters across opponents' creatures, and Nest of Scarabs rewards that strategy by generating a token army on your side while opponents' boards shrink.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Nest of Scarabs is a Commander card — full stop. Outside of dedicated -1/-1 counter synergy builds, it does nothing on its own, and the counter-based strategies it enables are too slow and enchantment-dependent for Legacy, Modern, or Pioneer, where it is technically legal but essentially unplayed. In Commander, it is a three-mana enchantment that scales to absurd proportions once the engine is running, particularly in the Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician shells where counters are distributed repeatedly each turn cycle. Nest of Scarabs is also a key piece in infinite combo lines that can close games outright, which keeps its inclusion rates high across all the relevant commanders.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

13,174 decks
Yawgmoth, Thran PhysicianNest of ScarabsBlood Artist

Yawgmoth, Thran PhysicianNest of ScarabsBlood Artist

Near-infinite -1/-1 counters; Near-infinite card draw; Near-infinite death triggers; Near-infinite draw triggers; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite lifegain triggers; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite sacrifice triggers; Near-infinite lifeloss

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Pricing data isn't currently available for Nest of Scarabs, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the live number. Historically it has sat in the bulk-to-$1 range given its narrow application, making it an easy pickup for any -1/-1 counter build.

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Sources

Mentioned

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