The Ancient One
Legendary Creature — Spirit God
Descend 8 — The Ancient One can't attack or block unless there are eight or more permanent cards in your graveyard.
: Draw a card, then discard a card. When you discard a card this way, target player mills cards equal to its mana value.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BU
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- The Lost Caverns of Ixalan
- Price
- $3.23
- EDHREC rank
- #5405
The Ancient One lands as a massive indestructible threat that also mills opponents every upkeep — and the unlock condition, filling your graveyard with eight or more card types, is trivial in any self-mill shell. Phenax, God of Deception decks in particular treat it as a finisher that pays for the setup work they were already doing.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Phenax, God of Deception
Phenax, God of Deception mills opponents by tapping creatures, and The Ancient One's high toughness makes it one of the most efficient mill engines in the deck — tap it to mill, then watch the upkeep trigger mill more. The graveyard-filling that unlocks The Ancient One happens naturally just by playing the deck.
Emet-Selch, Unsundered
Emet-Selch, Unsundered cares about filling graveyards and recurring large threats, so The Ancient One fits as both a payoff and a recursive target once the graveyard is stocked with the required card types.
The Mimeoplasm
The Mimeoplasm can enter as a copy of The Ancient One with +1/+1 counters stacked on top, producing a massive indestructible body on turn four or five if the graveyard is set up correctly.
Rona, Herald of Invasion
Rona, Herald of Invasion's looting ability accelerates filling the graveyard with varied card types, letting The Ancient One come online ahead of schedule as an indestructible blocker and attrition engine.
Mimeoplasm, Revered One
Mimeoplasm, Revered One similarly leverages The Ancient One as a graveyard-based threat, using its high power and toughness as a stat floor to copy or reanimate while the indestructible upside comes along for free.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where The Ancient One does its best work — the graveyard-filling condition is easy to meet in any Sultai or dimir self-mill shell, and the upkeep mill trigger scales up as the game goes long. In competitive 60-card formats like Modern and Pioneer, it faces the standard eight-mana problem: by the time it resolves, faster decks have already ended the game. Legacy and Vintage give it access to the broken enablers needed to fill a graveyard with eight types quickly, but there are more efficient finishers at that cost. Standard legality means it could see fringe play if a dedicated graveyard synergy deck emerges, but that remains context-dependent.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$3.23 cheap tier
At $3.23, The Ancient One sits in the budget-mythic tier where supply from a recent set keeps prices low despite real Commander demand. That price is likely to hold or drift slightly lower as copies circulate — it's an easy include for any self-mill build without breaking a budget.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Phenax, God of Deception
- Emet-Selch, Unsundered
- The Mimeoplasm
- Rona, Herald of Invasion
- Mimeoplasm, Revered One
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.