Plaguebearer
Creature — Zombie
: Destroy target nonblack creature with mana value X.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Exodus
- Price
- $38.80
- EDHREC rank
- #23233
Plaguebearer is one of the most efficient mass-removal pieces in black — it wipes the board of small creatures while leaving your fatties intact, all for one mana. The cost is narrow targeting: it won't touch anything with power greater than its counter total, so it blanks against command zones built around large threats.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Plaguebearer earns its slot — token decks and go-wide strategies are ubiquitous, and a one-mana creature that steadily dismantles them is the kind of asymmetric value black loves. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but essentially unplayed; the formats move too fast and the creature-removal competition is too fierce for a slow accumulation effect to matter. Oathbreaker is worth mentioning only because black planeswalker shells that proliferate can accelerate Plaguebearer's counter clock, but the format's lower card-count means consistency elsewhere takes priority.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
No card fully replicates Plaguebearer's repeatable, scalable wrath-on-a-stick, but Virulent Plague punishes token strategies harder and costs a fraction of the price — the trade-off is that it's a static enchantment rather than an interactive creature. Black Sun's Zenith is the next-closest effect: it scales with mana rather than time, hits the board immediately, and shuffles back in for reuse, making it the most practical substitute when you need the same slot filled for under five dollars.
Price Context
Current price
$38.80 premium tier
At $38.80, Plaguebearer sits firmly in the premium tier — a price driven by genuine scarcity from a single old printing rather than constructed demand. It holds value the way low-supply Commander staples do, but if a reprint lands the floor could drop sharply, so treat it as a card you play, not one you park in a binder.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.