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Nethroi, Apex of Death

Legendary Creature — Cat Nightmare Beast

Mutate {4}{G/W}{B}{B} (If you cast this spell for its mutate cost, put it over or under target non-Human creature you own. They mutate into the creature on top plus all abilities from under it.)
Deathtouch, lifelink
Whenever this creature mutates, return any number of target creature cards with total power 10 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{2}{W}{B}{G}
Color identity
BGW
Rarity
mythic
Set
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
Price
$36.64
EDHREC rank
#5244
Buy on TCGplayer
Nethroi, Apex of Death card art
Nethroi, Apex of Death reanimates any number of creatures with total power 0 from your graveyard when it mutates — which means one mutate trigger can flood the board with tokens, Walls, and zero-power value pieces like Pitiless Plunderer in a single shot. The mutate cost is steep at seven mana, but Felothar the Steadfast and similar graveyard-stacking commanders make that ceiling irrelevant fast.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Felothar the Steadfast

Felothar the Steadfast

31.8% of decks · synergy 0.26

Felothar the Steadfast fills the graveyard aggressively with creatures that die in combat, and Nethroi, Apex of Death turns that pile into a mass reanimation trigger — the two cards form a self-replenishing loop that's hard to race.

02
Kathril, Aspect Warper

Kathril, Aspect Warper

25.6% of decks · synergy 0.20

Kathril, Aspect Warper wants as many creature types and keyword abilities in the graveyard as possible, and Nethroi, Apex of Death does double duty: it populates the yard on the way in and can recur the creatures Kathril spent.

03
Betor, Kin to All

Betor, Kin to All

18.3% of decks · synergy 0.13

Betor, Kin to All's typal payoffs compound quickly when the board is refilled from nothing, and Nethroi, Apex of Death's reanimation trigger can restore an entire synergy package wiped out by a board clear.

04
Karador, Ghost Chieftain

Karador, Ghost Chieftain

16.3% of decks · synergy 0.11

Karador, Ghost Chieftain already wants a dense graveyard and incremental recursion, so Nethroi, Apex of Death functions as a one-shot mass recovery that bypasses Karador's one-per-turn limit and reloads the engine after disruption.

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

Commander is where Nethroi, Apex of Death earns its reputation — a 75-card graveyard deck can engineer exactly the zero-power creatures it wants in the bin, turning mutate into a near-guaranteed board refill. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but sees no meaningful play; faster and more consistent reanimation exists, and a seven-mana mutate cost doesn't compete with Reanimate or Animate Dead. Modern is the same story: the format's pace punishes seven-mana sorcery-speed effects without a dedicated shell to support them. Pioneer offers slightly more room to brew, but Nethroi, Apex of Death still requires infrastructure that's easier to assemble in the 99-card format. Stay in Commander.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

If the mutate cost is the barrier, Finale of Devastation hits a similar mass-recursion ceiling at a lower price point and tutors from the library on top — it won't replicate Nethroi, Apex of Death's zero-power specificity, but it closes games the same way. Tormod, the Desecrator paired with free graveyard-restock effects approximates the token flood for a fraction of the cost, though you lose the direct reanimation and the Abzan color identity that makes Nethroi, Apex of Death uniquely flexible.

Price Context

Current price

$36.64 premium tier

At $36.64, Nethroi, Apex of Death sits at the high end of a Commander staple — premium tier, but not unreasonable for a card that is the engine of its archetype rather than a supporting piece. Demand is stable enough that the price is unlikely to crater, though wide reprints could shift it; for now, if the deck is built around it, the cost is justified.

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Sources

Mentioned

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