Tenacious Underdog
Creature — Human Warrior
Blitz—
, Pay 2 life. (If you cast this spell for its blitz cost, it gains haste and "When this creature dies, draw a card." Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.)
You may cast this card from your graveyard using its blitz ability.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Streets of New Capenna Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #10539
Tenacious Underdog is a 3/2 menace that refuses to stay dead — its Blitz ability lets you pitch it from the graveyard for two mana, draw a card, and attack immediately, turning every graveyard phase into a threat. The cost is real: each recursion requires life, cards, and mana, so it rewards decks built to exploit the loop rather than generic goodstuff piles. In Nalia de'Arnise shells, that loop becomes a repeatable card-advantage engine stapled to a relevant creature type.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Nalia de'Arnise
Nalia de'Arnise cares deeply about Rogues and creatures with Sneak Attack-style effects, and Tenacious Underdog's Blitz recursion turns every late game into a resource engine — pitch, attack, draw, repeat — while simultaneously triggering Nalia's party-count synergies each time it re-enters.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Tenacious Underdog earns its slot in any black deck that wants a repeatable, self-contained draw engine stapled to a two-power attacker — the graveyard loop is resilient to most exile-less removal. In Pioneer and Modern, it saw competitive play as a grindy threat in midrange and aggro-control shells, particularly alongside discard synergies that put it in the bin early. Legacy doesn't need it given the density of stronger options, but it's technically legal and the Blitz recursion is never embarrassing. Oathbreaker treats it the same as Commander — a value piece that punishes opponents who don't immediately exile it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Current pricing data isn't available in this context, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the live number before buying. Tenacious Underdog saw enough competitive play across Pioneer and Modern that foil copies carry a premium; non-foil copies are generally the pick for Commander.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.