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Obstinate Gargoyle

Artifact Creature — Gargoyle

This creature has flying as long as it's modified. (Equipment, Auras you control, and counters are modifications.)
Persist (When this creature dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)

CMC
3
Mana cost
{1}{W}{B}
Color identity
BW
Rarity
common
Set
Modern Horizons 3
Price
$0.12
EDHREC rank
#14446
Buy on TCGplayer
Obstinate Gargoyle card art
Obstinate Gargoyle is a self-mill engine that keeps refilling your hand — the real cost is finding a commander who wants both a 0/4 flyer and a card-draw loop attached to dying. In Celes, Rune Knight builds, it pairs with Viscera Seer to generate a repeatable scry-and-draw chain that would be the centerpiece of slower, grindier lists anywhere else.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Celes, Rune Knight

Celes, Rune Knight

32.0% of decks · synergy 0.31

Celes, Rune Knight runs Obstinate Gargoyle in roughly 32% of lists because the Gargoyle's death-triggered draw feeds Celes's rune-stacking loop — sacrifice it to Viscera Seer, draw a card, recast it, repeat until you've sculpted exactly the hand you need.

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 legal
oathbreaker legal

Obstinate Gargoyle is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but realistically it belongs to Commander and Pauper. In Commander, the combo ceiling with sacrifice outlets makes it a niche but genuine engine piece in the right shell. In Pauper, a 0/4 flyer with upside is a real blocker, and the self-mill clause edges it toward graveyard-value decks that can exploit what it mills. Legacy and Vintage have access to far more efficient loops, so Obstinate Gargoyle never sees those tables.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.12 bulk tier

At $0.12, Obstinate Gargoyle is deep bulk — you're not paying for the card, you're paying for the shipping. Bulk commons with narrow combo applications rarely appreciate, so treat it as a slot-filler you grab out of a dollar box rather than a spec.

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Sources

Mentioned

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