Valgavoth's Lair
Enchantment Land
Hexproof
This land enters tapped. As it enters, choose a color.
: Add one mana of the chosen color.
- CMC
- 0
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Duskmourn: House of Horror Promos
- Price
- $1.05
- EDHREC rank
- #1701
Valgavoth's Lair enters the battlefield tapped and produces one black or red mana, which would be unremarkable except that it also drains an opponent for 1 life whenever it enters — passive chip damage stapled to a land slot. In Rendmaw, Creaking Nest decks that care about opponents losing life as a trigger condition, that incidental ping is the entire reason the Lair earns its slot over a basic.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Rendmaw, Creaking Nest
Rendmaw, Creaking Nest triggers off opponents losing life, so Valgavoth's Lair is effectively a free Rendmaw activation the moment you play your land for the turn.
Victor, Valgavoth's Seneschal
Victor, Valgavoth's Seneschal cares about draining opponents, and Valgavoth's Lair provides exactly that trigger on a land that fits naturally into Victor's black-red shell.
Baba Lysaga, Night Witch
Baba Lysaga, Night Witch rewards life loss across the board, making Valgavoth's Lair a zero-cost way to feed her engine every time the land enters.
Ghen, Arcanum Weaver
Ghen, Arcanum Weaver runs enchantments as its primary engine, but Valgavoth's Lair slots in as supporting mana fixing with a free life-loss trigger that syncs with any drain subtheme the deck carries.
Winter, Cynical Opportunist
Winter, Cynical Opportunist cares about opponents losing life on each player's turn, and Valgavoth's Lair contributes a consistent, repeatable ping every time it enters across multiple game states.
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 |
Valgavoth's Lair is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Standard, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but the drain trigger is only meaningful in formats where the life-loss clause lines up with a commander or synergy package — and that points squarely at Commander. In competitive 60-card formats the Lair is simply a tap-land, and tap-lands don't make cuts in Modern or Legacy where speed is the deciding factor. Standard and Pioneer could theoretically use it in drain-themed black-red shells, but 1 life is rarely impactful enough in those formats to justify the tempo loss. Commander is where Valgavoth's Lair finds its real home: multiplayer life totals make incremental damage add up, the land slot costs nothing in deck-building terms, and the drain trigger lines up with a dense cluster of commanders that specifically reward opponents losing life.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.05 cheap tier
At $1.05, Valgavoth's Lair sits in the budget-staple tier — cheap enough to include without a second thought in any deck that wants it. Demand is tightly tied to the Rendmaw and drain-commander crowd, so price pressure is real but narrow; if you're not in one of those shells, there's no urgency to buy.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Rendmaw, Creaking Nest
- Victor, Valgavoth's Seneschal
- Baba Lysaga, Night Witch
- Ghen, Arcanum Weaver
- Winter, Cynical Opportunist
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.