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Phyrexian Delver

Creature — Phyrexian Zombie

When this creature enters, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. You lose life equal to that card's mana value.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{B}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
rare
Set
Commander 2018
Price
$0.64
EDHREC rank
#3725
Buy on TCGplayer
Phyrexian Delver card art
Phyrexian Delver reanimates any creature from your graveyard the moment it enters — the cost is life equal to that creature's mana value, which is a real number you have to plan around. Commanders like Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos and Rot Hulk that want bodies back fast and repeatedly treat that life payment as an acceptable tax; in slower or lifegain-light lists, it starts to bite.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos

Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos

46.4% of decks · synergy 0.45

Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos mills aggressively and wants Phyrexian Delver as a recursive engine that keeps pulling Phyrexian threats back into play to keep generating incubator tokens and pressure.

02
Henzie "Toolbox" Torre

Henzie "Toolbox" Torre

41.1% of decks · synergy 0.38

Henzie "Toolbox" Torre blitzes fatties for reduced cost and then watches them die on end step, making Phyrexian Delver the perfect follow-up to pull those same fatties back and trigger their ETBs a second time.

03
Sedris, the Traitor King

Sedris, the Traitor King

18.6% of decks · synergy 0.18

Sedris, the Traitor King already lives in the business of recurring creatures from the graveyard, and Phyrexian Delver slots in as a redundant reanimation piece that doesn't require waiting for an attack step.

04
Chainer, Nightmare Adept

Chainer, Nightmare Adept

14.4% of decks · synergy 0.14

Chainer, Nightmare Adept cares about casting creatures from unusual zones, and Phyrexian Delver gives the deck a hard reanimation line that complements Chainer's own recursion without competing with it.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Commander is where Phyrexian Delver earns its keep — the format's singleton structure means graveyard recursion is structurally valuable, and a five-mana creature that immediately returns your best threat is a clean rate. Legacy and Vintage legality is technically correct, but neither format reaches for it when Reanimate and Animate Dead cost a fraction of the mana and the life. In Oathbreaker the math is similar to Commander: the effect is strong, the life cost is manageable against a smaller starting total, and the format's faster pace means you want to evaluate carefully whether five mana is too slow for your build.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.64 bulk tier

At $0.64, Phyrexian Delver is bulk by every measure — it's an easy include that won't strain any budget. The price reflects its niche role rather than power level; it does exactly what reanimator decks want and costs almost nothing to find out.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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