Purphoros's Emissary
Enchantment Creature — Ox
Bestow 
(If you cast this card for its bestow cost, it's an Aura spell with enchant creature. It becomes a creature again if it's not attached.)
Menace (This creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.)
Enchanted creature gets +3/+3 and has menace.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Pioneer Masters
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #21077
Purphoros's Emissary is a five-mana 3/3 that can bestow its power boost onto a creature you already control, threatening to push through lethal damage the turn it resolves. The cost is steep relative to what you get — a vanilla 3/3 or a +3/+3 aura for five mana is well below rate in any powered environment.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Purphoros's Emissary is too slow and too small to compete — five mana for a modest stat bump doesn't move the needle when the table has access to game-ending threats at the same cost. Pauper is where the card has the most realistic home, since bestow creatures with combat-relevant buffs can generate two-for-one value when removal is pointed at them, though Purphoros's Emissary still sits on the expensive end of the bestow curve even there. In Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer, it simply doesn't make the cut — every non-rotating format has access to efficient threats and interaction that make a five-mana aura-creature unplayable at the competitive level.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Purphoros's Emissary isn't currently available, but as a common-rarity bestow creature with limited competitive demand, it almost certainly sits at bulk pricing — likely a few cents. It's not a card worth tracking down at any premium; if you need it, it'll be in a bulk bin.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.