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Persistent Specimen

Creature — Skeleton

{2}{B}: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.

CMC
1
Mana cost
{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
common
Set
Innistrad: Double Feature
Price
$0.30
EDHREC rank
#7151
Buy on TCGplayer
Persistent Specimen card art
Persistent Specimen is a one-mana 1/1 that returns itself to your hand whenever it dies, making it an infinitely reusable sacrifice outlet trigger for any deck that cares about creatures hitting the graveyard. Commanders like Bhaal, Lord of Murder and Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist run it because a creature that costs one mana and never stays dead is one of the most reliable engines in black.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist

Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist

55.8% of decks · synergy 0.53

Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist appears in over half of Ashnod decks because Persistent Specimen is the ideal sacrifice fodder — it costs one mana, triggers Ashnod's Construct-making ability, and bounces straight back to hand to do it again next turn.

02

Grist, Voracious Larva

17.2% of decks · synergy 0.17

Grist, Voracious Larva wants a steady stream of insects and cheap creatures to sacrifice, and Persistent Specimen fills that role permanently — one mana to replay every turn means Grist's mill-and-sacrifice engine never runs dry.

03
Massacre Girl

Massacre Girl

12.3% of decks · synergy 0.10

Massacre Girl's wipe triggers off creatures dying, and Persistent Specimen survives every board clear by returning to hand, letting you replay it immediately into the next wave. It's the one creature that actually gets stronger the more sweepers Massacre Girl casts.

04
Syr Konrad, the Grim

Syr Konrad, the Grim

11.8% of decks · synergy 0.09

Syr Konrad, the Grim pings opponents whenever a creature leaves the graveyard, so Persistent Specimen looping through die-and-return is a repeatable damage source that costs nothing but one mana per cycle.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is the natural home for Persistent Specimen — the 100-card singleton format rewards creatures that generate value repeatedly, and a one-mana body that resets itself fits any sacrifice or death-trigger shell regardless of budget. In Pauper, it's a legitimate engine piece in aristocrats-style builds where common-rarity payoffs need a reliable fodder loop. Modern and Pioneer aren't clamoring for it, since faster formats want sacrifice outlets that also progress the board in meaningful ways, but fringe combo decks that need a cheap recursive piece will find it functional. Legacy and Vintage have stronger options at the same cost, so Persistent Specimen won't displace anything there.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.30 bulk tier

At $0.30, Persistent Specimen sits firmly in bulk territory — easy to acquire in quantity and unlikely to spike given its common-adjacent role. It holds that floor well because it's a genuine engine piece rather than a filler card, which means demand stays steady even if the price never climbs.

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Sources

Mentioned

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