Poisoner's Apprentice
Creature — Orc Warlock
Infusion — When this creature enters, target creature an opponent controls gets -4/-4 until end of turn if you gained life this turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #26105
Poisoner's Apprentice puts a poison counter on any target whenever you cast a spell, which in dedicated spellslinger or storm shells translates directly into a poison clock that bypasses life totals entirely. The one-mana body is incidental — you run this because ten spells equals a dead player, full stop.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Poisoner's Apprentice is a niche piece in infect or toxic-adjacent builds where you want redundant poison-counter sources that don't require combat, though most dedicated infect decks still prefer creatures that deal poison through damage. In constructed formats — Modern, Pioneer, Standard — the card is technically legal but has no competitive footprint; storm and spellslinger decks have faster, more direct win conditions than slowly accumulating ten poison counters one spell at a time. Poisoner's Apprentice is a Commander card in practice, and even there only in the narrow slice of decks built specifically around the poison-counter win condition.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Poisoner's Apprentice is deep bulk — you're paying for the effect, not the cardboard. Demand is narrow enough that the price floor is unlikely to move unless a future commander makes poison-per-spell a mainstream strategy.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.