Rathi Fiend
Creature — Phyrexian Horror Mercenary
When this creature enters, each player loses 3 life.
, 
: Search your library for a Mercenary permanent card with mana value 3 or less, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Nemesis
- Price
- $0.18
- EDHREC rank
- #26696
Rathi Fiend drains each opponent for 1 life whenever you lose life — a symmetry-breaking engine in decks that repeatedly pay life as a resource. The cost is a four-mana 2/2 with no evasion, which means it needs to close games quickly or it just dies to the first blocker.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Rathi Fiend is a Commander card through and through — the multiplayer environment turns each life-loss trigger into three simultaneous drains, compressing what would be a slow bleed in 1v1 into a meaningful clock. In Legacy and Vintage it's too slow and too fragile for any serious shell; nothing in those formats wants a four-mana 2/2 that asks you to build around it. Commander is where the math works: pair it with a commander like Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose or any aristocrats engine and the life-loss triggers stack fast enough to close out a table.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.18 bulk tier
At $0.18, Rathi Fiend is deep bulk — easy to pick up as a throw-in and zero barrier to testing. Bulk rares with niche combo applications tend to stay in this range unless a high-profile deck puts them on camera, so don't expect movement.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.