Praetor's Counsel
Sorcery
Return all cards from your graveyard to your hand. Exile Praetor's Counsel. You have no maximum hand size for the rest of the game.
- CMC
- 8
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Commander 2014
- Price
- $2.66
- EDHREC rank
- #5212
Praetor's Counsel returns your entire graveyard to hand and removes your maximum hand size for the rest of the game — that's a full rebuild stapled to a permanent Reliquary Tower effect. Eight mana is real, but in green ramp shells, especially Borborygmos Enraged where discarding lands is the win condition, refilling your hand with every land you've pitched is exactly what the deck needs to threaten lethal again.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Borborygmos Enraged
Borborygmos Enraged pitches lands to dome opponents, and Praetor's Counsel returns every discarded land to hand with no ceiling — one cast reloads a kill attempt that seemed spent.
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury grinds value through incremental draw and Elf tokens, and Praetor's Counsel gives the deck a late-game reset valve that turns a depleted hand into a full grip of every spell already spent.
Quandrix, the Proof
Quandrix, the Proof rewards casting expensive spells repeatedly, and Praetor's Counsel refuels the hand at exactly the point the engine would otherwise stall out after a heavy spell sequence.
Omnath, Locus of Mana
Omnath, Locus of Mana stockpiles green mana across turns, making the eight-mana ask on Praetor's Counsel trivial, and the permanent hand-size removal means every land and spell recovered from the yard stays in hand without forced discard.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Praetor's Counsel lives — longer games mean graveyards fill up, hand-size limits actually bite, and eight mana arrives reliably with the ramp green provides. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but never played; eight mana for a hand refill is several turns too slow in formats that win on turns one through three. Oathbreaker shares enough of Commander's pacing that the card can slot in, though the smaller deck size reduces how much graveyard fodder accumulates. Outside Commander, Praetor's Counsel is a curiosity on legality lists rather than a real consideration.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.66 cheap tier
At $2.66, Praetor's Counsel sits in the budget-staple tier — strong effect, low barrier, no reason to hesitate on the purchase. That price reflects steady casual demand rather than competitive spike risk, so it's unlikely to move sharply in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Borborygmos Enraged
- Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury
- Quandrix, the Proof
- Omnath, Locus of Mana
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.