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Nested Ghoul

Creature — Phyrexian Zombie Warrior

Whenever a source deals damage to this creature, create a 2/2 black Phyrexian Zombie creature token.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{B}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Mirrodin Besieged
Price
$0.09
EDHREC rank
#25180
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Nested Ghoul card art
Nested Ghoul replaces itself with a 2/2 Zombie token every time it takes damage that would destroy it — a persistent body-generation engine that demands multiple answers. The five-mana cost is steep for a 3/3 with no evasion, but in any shell that cares about Zombies entering the battlefield or pairs it with damage-based effects like Warstorm Surge, that cost earns its keep.

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

Nested Ghoul is a Commander card through and through — the formats where it's legal outside of Commander (Legacy, Modern, Vintage) have no interest in a five-mana 3/3 with a slow value trigger. In Commander, it slots cleanly into Zombie tribal strategies that want recurring bodies, sacrifice outlets that benefit from a steady Zombie supply, or aristocrats builds where each replacement token is another death trigger waiting to happen. It's not a powerhouse, but it fills a role at a price that makes the inclusion cost trivial.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.09 bulk tier

At $0.09, Nested Ghoul is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not card value. It won't hold or gain monetary value, but for a card that generates repeated tokens in the right shell, the financial ask is essentially zero.

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Sources

Mentioned

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