True-Name Nemesis
Creature — Merfolk Rogue
As this creature enters, choose a player.
This creature has protection from the chosen player.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander 2013
- Price
- $2.86
- EDHREC rank
- #10701
True-Name Nemesis hits the table as a 3/1 that cannot be targeted, blocked, or damaged by any player except the one you named — in practice, it attacks freely every turn until someone kills it with a non-targeted effect. Three mana for that effect is cheap enough that the only real cost is the card slot itself.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Sygg, River Cutthroat
Sygg, River Cutthroat triggers whenever an opponent loses 3 or more life in a turn, and True-Name Nemesis delivers exactly that damage uncontested every combat — the two cards form a draw engine the table has almost no clean answer to.
Anowon, the Ruin Thief
Anowon, the Ruin Thief mills opponents whenever a Rogue deals combat damage, and True-Name Nemesis is a Rogue that guaranteed connects every single turn, making it one of the most reliable trigger sources in the deck.
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 |
In Commander, True-Name Nemesis is as strong as it is polarizing — protection from a chosen player means one opponent is locked out of interacting with it, but three opponents still have access to sweepers, sacrifice effects, and -X/-X, which caps its dominance relative to 1v1 formats. In Legacy, where it's legal and the format is 1v1, True-Name Nemesis is legitimately oppressive: a 3/1 that cannot be answered by targeted removal, combat, or most creatures is a closing threat that demands specific hate like Toxic Deluge or Terminus. Vintage sees it played but the format's density of fast combo and free interaction limits how often a three-mana creature gets to be the centerpiece. Oathbreaker follows similar logic to Commander — useful, not broken.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.86 cheap tier
At $2.86, True-Name Nemesis sits well below what its raw power level would suggest, largely because it has been reprinted enough to suppress the price ceiling. For what it does in evasion-based Commander strategies, that's an easy include.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.