Shepherd of Heroes
Creature — Angel Cleric
Flying
When this creature enters, you gain 2 life for each creature in your party. (Your party consists of up to one each of Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, and Wizard.)
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Zendikar Rising
- Price
- $0.08
- EDHREC rank
- #21115
Shepherd of Heroes enters and gains you life equal to the greatest power among creatures you control — in any creature-heavy deck, that's a 5-to-10 life swing stapled to a 3/4 body for five mana. The rate is too slow for competitive tables, but as a bulk inclusion in Angel tribal or +1/+1 counter shells that need incidental lifegain triggers, it does its job.
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 |
Shepherd of Heroes is a Commander card through and through — the lifegain trigger scales with board state in a way that only matters in long, creature-dense games. In Pauper it's technically legal but competes with commons that generate more immediate value at lower cost, so it sees no real play there. Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer have zero interest in a five-mana 3/4 with a conditional lifegain trigger. Commander is the one format where a deck built around Heliod, Sun-Crowned or Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim can actually weaponize what Shepherd of Heroes offers, turning that life total into a resource.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.08 bulk tier
At $0.08, Shepherd of Heroes is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard and shipping, not the card. Bulk commons and uncommons at this price point don't appreciate unless a rule change or new combo pushes them into demand, and nothing in Shepherd of Heroes's text box suggests that's coming.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.