Plargg and Nassari
Legendary Creature — Orc Efreet
At the beginning of your upkeep, each player exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card. An opponent chooses a nonland card exiled this way. You may cast up to two spells from among the other cards exiled this way without paying their mana costs.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- March of the Machine: The Aftermath
- Price
- $5.14
- EDHREC rank
- #2273
Plargg and Nassari drops a repeatable, free-cast engine onto the board for four mana — each upkeep you exile the top cards of each library and cast one without paying its mana cost, which in a multiplayer game means up to four free spells per turn cycle. The catch is variance: you're casting whatever you hit, not whatever you want. Obeka, Splitter of Seconds eliminates that downside entirely by ending your turn before the trigger resolves, letting you fish for a better exile window.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Obeka, Splitter of Seconds
Obeka, Splitter of Seconds pairs with Plargg and Nassari as the defining engine of the archetype — ending the turn resets the upkeep trigger without spending the exile, so you effectively get to choose when to cash in and keep replaying the effect until you hit something worth casting.
Don Andres, the Renegade
Don Andres, the Renegade cares about casting spells from exile and generating chaos value from unexpected sources, making Plargg and Nassari a natural fit that fuels both halves of the gameplan.
Ian Malcolm, Chaotician
Ian Malcolm, Chaotician rewards casting spells from opponents' libraries and leaning into chaotic, high-variance play patterns, so Plargg and Nassari's multi-library exile trigger slots in as a primary engine rather than a side piece.
Nathan Drake, Treasure Hunter
Nathan Drake, Treasure Hunter benefits from casting spells for free and generating value off unexpected card sources, and Plargg and Nassari's upkeep trigger feeds that engine without requiring extra setup.
Gwen Stacy
Gwen Stacy decks tend to run spell-slinging value engines that operate across multiple turns, and Plargg and Nassari's recurring free casts provide the kind of card-advantage throughput those lists want at the four-mana slot.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is the correct home for Plargg and Nassari — the card scales directly with the number of opponents, turning a single upkeep trigger into up to four free casts per turn cycle in a four-player pod. In competitive Commander it's too slow and too random to compete with faster engines, but in mid-power tables it generates enough chaos and card advantage to take over games. In Pioneer, Modern, and Legacy the effect is a one-per-turn gamble at four mana that doesn't impact the board, and competitive one-on-one formats have no patience for that kind of variance. Oathbreaker is a reasonable secondary home if your signature spell supports the spellcasting payoff, but the real ceiling is Commander.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Stolen Strategy does roughly the same thing — exile the top card of each opponent's library each combat and cast one for free — for a mana less and without the legend restriction, and it costs under $1. The trade-off is that Stolen Strategy triggers on attack rather than upkeep, so it's slower to fire, and you don't get to cast from your own library the way Plargg and Nassari does in a pinch. If you want the same chaotic free-cast energy with more consistency, Etali, Primal Conqueror is the upgrade in the other direction — but that's a six-mana creature, not a budget swap.
Price Context
Current price
$5.14 mid tier
At $5.14, Plargg and Nassari sits at the high end of the mid tier — you're paying for a unique effect that has no clean substitute at a lower price point. The price is stable rather than climbing; it sees play in a handful of dedicated archetypes but not broadly enough to push it higher.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Obeka, Splitter of Seconds
- Don Andres, the Renegade
- Ian Malcolm, Chaotician
- Nathan Drake, Treasure Hunter
- Gwen Stacy
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.