The Speed Demon
Legendary Creature — Demon
Flying, trample
Start your engines! (If you have no speed, it starts at 1. It increases once on each of your turns when an opponent loses life. Max speed is 4.)
At the beginning of your end step, you draw X cards and lose X life, where X is your speed.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Aetherdrift
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #6773
The Speed Demon hits the board and immediately demands an answer — haste, evasion, and a punishing triggered ability make it a threat that generates value the turn it lands. The cost is real, but in decks built around Ardyn, the Usurper, that cost becomes part of the engine rather than a liability.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ardyn, the Usurper
Ardyn, the Usurper's game plan revolves around leveraging powerful Villains, and The Speed Demon slots in as one of the most impactful pieces — the combination of immediate pressure and on-attack triggers aligns directly with what Ardyn wants to be doing every combat step.
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 |
In Commander, The Speed Demon earns its slot in any deck that can support its cost and wants a high-impact threat with built-in forward momentum — the 33% inclusion rate among Ardyn, the Usurper decks is the clearest signal of where it belongs. Competitive non-rotating formats like Legacy and Vintage have access to so many efficient threats that The Speed Demon faces a steep bar, and it's unlikely to displace established staples there. Modern and Pioneer are more plausible homes if an aggressive or midrange shell can make good use of its triggered ability, though it needs the right deck to justify the investment. Standard is where The Speed Demon gets the most room to breathe — fewer answers, fewer competing threats, and the synergy payoff is proportionally larger.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for The Speed Demon isn't available yet, which typically means it's either newly released or lightly tracked. Check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for a current market price before picking up copies.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.