Sower of Discord
Creature — Demon
Flying
As this creature enters, choose two players.
Whenever damage is dealt to one of the chosen players, the other chosen player also loses that much life.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander Masters
- Price
- $5.41
- EDHREC rank
- #3471
Sower of Discord creates a damage link between two players — every point one takes, the other takes too — and that pressure reshapes the entire table's politics from the moment it lands. Six mana is the real cost, but in the right shell, Be'lakor, the Dark Master and similar Demon-tribal commanders treat that price tag as a feature, not a bug.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Be'lakor, the Dark Master
Be'lakor, the Dark Master triggers off every Demon entering the battlefield and draws cards whenever a Demon deals damage, so Sower of Discord feeds both halves of that engine while doubling the damage output across two targets simultaneously.
Ardyn, the Usurper
Ardyn, the Usurper wants opponents hurting each other, and Sower of Discord turns every combat step and burn spell into a two-for-one drain without Ardyn needing to do additional work.
Xantcha, Sleeper Agent
Xantcha, Sleeper Agent gifts a creature to an opponent and then rewards you when that opponent takes damage — pairing Xantcha with Sower of Discord means the linked player eats damage every time Xantcha's activated ability fires, accelerating the life-loss clock dramatically.
Jon Irenicus, Shattered One
Jon Irenicus, Shattered One donates creatures to opponents and profits from their suffering, and Sower of Discord amplifies that by ensuring any damage the gift recipient takes also punishes their paired opponent, turning the table against itself.
Rakdos, Lord of Riots
Rakdos, Lord of Riots reduces the cost of every creature in hand based on life lost by opponents this turn, and Sower of Discord doubles the damage events feeding that reduction — landing Rakdos a turn earlier becomes trivially easy.
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 |
Commander is where Sower of Discord lives — the four-player environment turns its link ability into a political weapon and a threat multiplier at the same time. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but six mana for a 5/4 with no immediate board impact is nowhere near competitive in those formats, and it will never see a sideboard slot there. Oathbreaker is the one other format worth mentioning: slower games and smaller starting life totals make the damage symmetry genuinely threatening, especially in aggressive black shells.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Vicious Rumors and similar chip-damage spells don't replicate the persistent link, but Tainted Remedy comes closest to Sower of Discord's punishment angle — it converts any life gain an opponent receives into damage, which creates a comparable hostility tax for under $1. Wound Reflection is the other near-replacement: it doesn't link two players, but doubling all damage an opponent takes at end of turn replicates the "hurt one, hurt more" pressure Sower of Discord creates, for roughly the same price or less depending on printing.
Price Context
Current price
$5.41 mid tier
At $5.41, Sower of Discord sits in mid-tier territory — expensive enough to feel like a deliberate slot, cheap enough that it doesn't require a budget justification in most Commander builds. It's a casual staple with consistent demand in Rakdos and Demon-tribal lists, so the price is unlikely to crater, but don't expect it to climb without a reprint either.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.