Netherborn Altar
Artifact
, Put a soul counter on this artifact: Put your commander into your hand from the command zone. Then you lose 3 life for each soul counter on this artifact.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $0.49
- EDHREC rank
- #9304
Netherborn Altar solves the one problem that makes Phage the Untouchable nearly unplayable as a commander: it lets you cast her from the command zone without triggering her lose-the-game clause, by putting her into play from a non-casting zone. The cost is real — five mana for the artifact, then charge counters accumulate each upkeep until you pay them off — but for any deck built around Phage, that's a price you pay without blinking.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Phage the Untouchable
Netherborn Altar exists almost exclusively because of Phage the Untouchable — it's the cleanest way to put her into play without losing the game on the spot, and 90% of Phage decks run it as a result.
Kathril, Aspect Warper
Kathril, Aspect Warper wants big keyword-dense creatures in the graveyard, and Netherborn Altar gives the deck a secondary line by safely deploying Phage as a finisher once the board is set up.
Piru, the Volatile
Piru, the Volatile decks running a Phage package use Netherborn Altar as the bridge between the two legends, giving the deck a second reliable way to close out a game when Piru's life-loss engine stalls.
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 |
Netherborn Altar is a Commander card through and through — its entire design is a workaround for the command zone, a mechanic that only exists in Commander and Oathbreaker. In Oathbreaker, the same logic applies if your spellbreaker or win condition happens to be a creature with a punishing cast trigger, though the use case is narrow. Legacy and Vintage have no meaningful home for it; no competitive deck wants a five-mana artifact that does nothing the turn it enters. Play Netherborn Altar in Commander or don't play it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.49 bulk tier
At $0.49, Netherborn Altar is bulk, and that price reflects its extremely narrow application — it's a staple in exactly one deck archetype and a pickup in a handful of others. It's unlikely to spike or crater; grab it when you're building Phage and don't think twice about the cost.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.