Viseling
Artifact Creature — Phyrexian Construct
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, this creature deals X damage to that player, where X is the number of cards in their hand minus 4.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Commander 2013
- Price
- $0.42
- EDHREC rank
- #10627
Viseling punishes opponents for holding cards — each end step, anyone with four or more cards in hand takes damage equal to how many cards they're holding above three, which in a group-hug deck that forces draws is a clock disguised as a favor. Pair it with Kami of the Crescent Moon handing out extra draws every upkeep and the table is taking consistent, unavoidable damage just for playing the game.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Kami of the Crescent Moon
Kami of the Crescent Moon's passive draw engine is the best home for Viseling — every free card Kami hands out pushes opponents deeper into the damage trigger, turning a generous effect into a win condition.
Red Death, Shipwrecker
Red Death, Shipwrecker forces opponents to hold cards and discard on its terms, which means hands stay inflated long enough for Viseling to punish them before the discard clause fires.
Sokrates, Athenian Teacher
Sokrates, Athenian Teacher rewards and incentivizes drawing, so opponents routinely sit above the four-card threshold — Viseling converts that hand inflation into a steady damage clock across all three opponents simultaneously.
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 |
Viseling is a Commander card through and through — the damage trigger scales with the number of opponents, so the four-player pod is where it actually threatens to close games. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but has never found a home; those formats are too fast and too interactive for a 2/2 that deals incremental damage to players who are likely to kill it immediately or win before it matters. Oathbreaker shares the multiplayer structure of Commander and is a reasonable secondary home for the same group-hug-punishment archetype. Anywhere else, Viseling simply isn't legal.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.42 bulk tier
At $0.42, Viseling is firmly bulk — inexpensive enough to slot into any group-hug build without a second thought. It's a niche card with a narrow home, so don't expect the price to move in either direction.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.