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Phenax, God of Deception

Legendary Enchantment Creature — God

Indestructible
As long as your devotion to blue and black is less than seven, Phenax isn't a creature.
Creatures you control have "{T}: Target player mills X cards, where X is this creature's toughness."

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{U}{B}
Color identity
BU
Rarity
mythic
Set
Pioneer Masters
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#4889
Buy on TCGplayer
Phenax, God of Deception card art
Phenax, God of Deception turns every creature's toughness into a mill trigger, and a single Consuming Aberration on board can mill an entire table in one pass. The cost is a five-mana enchantment that needs devotion to become a blocker — but the mill engine runs whether or not Phenax is a creature, and Captain N'ghathrod decks are happy to pay that price.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Captain N'ghathrod

Captain N'ghathrod

22.3% of decks · synergy 0.20

Captain N'ghathrod is the premier mill commander in Dimir, and Phenax, God of Deception slots in as a redundant mill engine that doesn't need combat to function — every horror N'ghathrod reanimates from an opponent's yard immediately becomes a tap-to-mill threat.

02
The Ancient One

The Ancient One

21.5% of decks · synergy 0.19

The Ancient One wants a critical mass of cards in opponents' graveyards to awaken, and Phenax, God of Deception is one of the fastest ways to build that count without attacking, making it a core piece of the awakening setup.

03
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind

Lazav, Dimir Mastermind

17.7% of decks · synergy 0.15

Lazav, Dimir Mastermind copies the best creature milled, so Phenax, God of Deception serves double duty — filling graveyards with targets while the creatures doing the milling grow Lazav's options each turn.

04
Lord Xander, the Collector

Lord Xander, the Collector

13.0% of decks · synergy 0.13

Lord Xander, the Collector already strips cards from opponents' hands and libraries through combat, and Phenax, God of Deception extends that attrition plan to every untap step, letting the deck grind out wins even when Xander is answered.

05

Esika, God of the Tree

9.3% of decks · synergy 0.09

Esika, God of the Tree runs the Prismatic Bridge back face and stacks the board with powerful legends and gods, and Phenax, God of Deception earns its slot by converting that wide, high-toughness board into a passive mill engine every turn.

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 the only format where Phenax, God of Deception is genuinely powerful — three opponents mean three libraries to mill, and a full table can crumble to a single large toughness creature tapping repeatedly. In Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer it's legal but sees essentially no play; the mill gameplan in those formats demands speed that a five-mana enchantment can't provide, and dedicated mill packages in those formats don't need Phenax's creature-tap clause. Vintage offers even less reason to run it. Oathbreaker is the one other format where Phenax, God of Deception could function as a signature spell target or background piece, but it's the Commander table where the design fully clicks.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Current pricing data for Phenax, God of Deception isn't available in this snapshot, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the live number. It has seen multiple printings which have historically kept the price accessible, but god cards with active Commander demand tend to hold a floor — don't expect bulk pricing.

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Sources

Mentioned

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