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Puppeteer Clique

Creature — Faerie Wizard

Flying
When this creature enters, put target creature card from an opponent's graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. It gains haste. At the beginning of your next end step, exile it.
Persist (When this creature dies, if it had no -1/-1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a -1/-1 counter on it.)

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{B}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
rare
Set
Commander 2017
Price
$0.43
EDHREC rank
#2524
Buy on TCGplayer
Puppeteer Clique card art
Puppeteer Clique steals a creature from any opponent's graveyard twice — once on entry, once when persist returns it — and that body stays until end of turn, then gets exiled so your opponents never see it again. The five-mana ask is real, but Mikaeus, the Unhallowed removes the -1/-1 counter to make the persist loop infinite, and Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor turns every persist death into a card.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor

Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor

64.3% of decks · synergy 0.62

Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor draws a card whenever a Faerie you control dies, and Puppeteer Clique is a Faerie that is designed to die twice — persist guarantees two death triggers and two stolen attacks before the loop even needs a third piece.

02
Obeka, Brute Chronologist

Obeka, Brute Chronologist

51.2% of decks · synergy 0.48

Obeka, Brute Chronologist can end the turn at instant speed, which wipes the "exile at end of turn" clause on stolen creatures and lets you keep them permanently — Puppeteer Clique is one of the cleanest targets for that trick.

04
Nalia de'Arnise

Nalia de'Arnise

35.5% of decks · synergy 0.34

Nalia de'Arnise cares about creatures with two or more creature types, and Puppeteer Clique's Faerie Wizard typing qualifies — but the real draw is that her +1/+1 counter synergies offset the persist -1/-1 counter, letting Puppeteer Clique loop without an additional enabler.

05
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

35.6% of decks · synergy 0.34

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed grants undying to non-Humans, which stacks with persist in a way that creates an infinite death loop when a sacrifice outlet is on board — Puppeteer Clique is one of the most popular pieces to slot into that engine.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Commander is where Puppeteer Clique does its best work: three opponents mean three graveyards to raid, and the persist trigger happens naturally without any setup, making it a threat the moment it resolves. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but too slow and too narrow — five mana for a single reanimation effect can't compete with what those formats do at instant speed for less. Modern is the same story; the card sees essentially no play there because the format's graveyard synergies move faster than a 3/2 with an end-of-turn exile clause. Puppeteer Clique is a Commander card through and through, and the combo potential with persist loops keeps it showing up in graveyard and aristocrats builds at a steady clip.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

2,483 decks
Viscera SeerPuppeteer CliqueThran Vigil

Viscera SeerPuppeteer CliqueThran Vigil

Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite death triggers; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite scry 1; Put all creature cards from each opponent's graveyard onto the battlefield under your control

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

$0.43 bulk tier

At $0.43, Puppeteer Clique is bulk despite being a genuine combo piece in multiple archetypes — that price reflects supply more than demand. It's a safe pickup at this tier; a card with this much combo infrastructure rarely dips lower.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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