Patriarch's Desire
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/-2.
Threshold — Enchanted creature gets an additional +2/-2 as long as there are seven or more cards in your graveyard.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Odyssey
- Price
- $0.09
- EDHREC rank
- #29892
Patriarch's Desire puts a -2/-2 counter on target creature — unconditional on any creature you control being an Zombie, which is a real ask for a narrow effect. Sorcery-speed -2/-2 for two mana is below the removal bar in Commander, and it earns a slot only if your deck can reliably meet the threshold.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Patriarch's Desire is a role-player strictly inside Zombie tribal — outside that shell, -2/-2 at sorcery speed for two mana doesn't clear the 100-card curation bar. Pauper is where the card has the most plausible life, since commons compete on a tighter power budget and Zombie synergies exist at the format's lower curve. Legacy and Vintage are legal but irrelevant; neither format wants conditional sorcery-speed removal when Fatal Push and Swords to Plowshares exist. Patriarch's Desire is a Zombie deck card through and through.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.09 bulk tier
At $0.09, Patriarch's Desire sits firmly in bulk — you'll pay more for the sleeve than the card. There's no pressure trajectory here; it's a narrow tribal common with better competition, so the price is stable at the floor.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.