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Suture Priest

Creature — Phyrexian Cleric

Whenever another creature you control enters, you may gain 1 life.
Whenever a creature an opponent controls enters, you may have that player lose 1 life.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{1}{W}
Color identity
W
Rarity
common
Set
Magic Online Promos
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#1167
Buy on TCGplayer
Suture Priest card art
Suture Priest taxes every creature an opponent plays while rewarding you for each one you play — on a one-mana body that demands an answer or accrues an obscene amount of life over a long game. It's the quiet backbone of token and life-gain decks, and commanders like Phelddagrif and Darien, King of Kjeldor exploit it hard enough that it shows up in over half their builds.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Darien, King of Kjeldor

Darien, King of Kjeldor

73.4% of decks · synergy 0.61

Darien, King of Kjeldor turns damage into soldiers, and Suture Priest turns those soldiers into life — meaning the same combat damage that should hurt you instead fuels a life-gain loop that can spiral out of reach within a few attack steps.

02
Karlov of the Ghost Council

Karlov of the Ghost Council

64.9% of decks · synergy 0.52

Karlov of the Ghost Council needs life-gain triggers on other players' turns as much as your own, and Suture Priest delivers one for every creature an opponent resolves, keeping Karlov's counter accumulation ticking even when you're not the active player.

03
Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant

Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant

53.8% of decks · synergy 0.51

Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant is built around reaching high life totals, and Suture Priest accelerates that math by punishing opponents for playing creatures while padding your own count — each creature entering on either side moves the needle.

04
Phelddagrif

Phelddagrif

52.4% of decks · synergy 0.51

Phelddagrif hands out hippos to opponents, which means Suture Priest turns generosity into drain — every hippo token you gift costs the recipient a life, flipping the political gifting plan into a slow, grinding life-swing engine.

05
Trelasarra, Moon Dancer

Trelasarra, Moon Dancer

53.7% of decks · synergy 0.51

Trelasarra, Moon Dancer scales on life-gain triggers, and Suture Priest generates one for every creature you play, giving Trelasarra a reliable stream of +1/+1 counters and scry triggers without requiring any additional setup.

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 legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Suture Priest does its best work — multiplayer tables flood with creature enters-the-battlefield triggers, and the drain adds up fast across three opponents. In Pauper it's a legitimate piece of life-gain and drain strategies, cheap enough to run as a full playset and sturdy enough to matter in a format where one-drops are currency. Legacy and Vintage have access to it, but the effect is too slow and too fragile for those formats' kill speeds — it's not the card you reach for there. Modern has faster, more resilient payoffs that make Suture Priest redundant. Stick to Commander and Pauper, where the creature density and longer games give it room to generate real value.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

1,219 decks
PhelddagrifSuture PriestIntruder Alarm

PhelddagrifSuture PriestIntruder Alarm

Infinite creature tokens for opponents; Infinite ETB for opponents; Infinite lifeloss; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinite untap of creatures; Infinite creature tokens for any number of opponents; Infinite ETB for any number of opponents

View on Commander Spellbook ↗
910 decks
Questing PhelddagrifSuture PriestIntruder Alarm

Questing PhelddagrifSuture PriestIntruder Alarm

Infinite creature tokens for opponents; Infinite ETB for opponents; Infinite lifeloss; Infinitely large creature until end of turn; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinite untap of creatures; Infinite creature tokens for any number of opponents; Infinite ETB for any number of opponents

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Suture Priest has been reprinted enough times to stay genuinely cheap — typically well under a dollar in most printings, which makes it an easy include whenever it fits the strategy. At that price point there's no reason to wait; pick it up the moment you identify a life-gain or token commander that wants it.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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