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Vorpal Sword

Artifact — Equipment

Equipped creature gets +2/+0 and has deathtouch.
{5}{B}{B}{B}: Until end of turn, this Equipment gains "Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, that player loses the game."
Equip {B}{B}

CMC
1
Mana cost
{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
rare
Set
Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Promos
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#2716
Buy on TCGplayer
Vorpal Sword card art
Vorpal Sword equips for one black mana and gives deathtouch — which is already playable in any deck that wants to win combat — but the real draw is the eight-mana activated ability that flatly eliminates a player on a successful combat damage trigger. Commanders like Kelsien, the Plague, who can ping creatures and accumulate experience counters, and Noctis, Heir Apparent, who leans on equipped weapons, treat Vorpal Sword as a primary win condition rather than a cute tech piece.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Kelsien, the Plague

Kelsien, the Plague

69.0% of decks · synergy 0.67

Kelsien, the Plague pings creatures to grow off experience counters, and deathtouch from Vorpal Sword turns every tap into a guaranteed kill — the sword does double duty as both a removal engine and a one-shot threat once Kelsien is large enough to hit a player.

02
Ramses, Assassin Lord

Ramses, Assassin Lord

64.8% of decks · synergy 0.63

Ramses, Assassin Lord wins the game outright when an Assassin deals combat damage to an opponent, and Vorpal Sword's own kill trigger stacks on top of that, making every equipped swing a two-vector threat that demands an immediate answer.

03

Zenos yae Galvus

66.3% of decks · synergy 0.62

Zenos yae Galvus wants to connect in combat and rewards doing so with escalating payoffs, and Vorpal Sword's deathtouch guarantees those connections go through while the eight-mana activation gives the deck a hard-coded kill condition for any opponent who survives the early pressure.

04
Tetsuo, Imperial Champion

Tetsuo, Imperial Champion

32.4% of decks · synergy 0.32

Tetsuo, Imperial Champion already cares about Equipment and wants to attack with a threatening creature, so Vorpal Sword slots in as both a deathtouch enabler and a late-game finisher that converts any uncontested swing into an elimination.

05
Noctis, Heir Apparent

Noctis, Heir Apparent

24.4% of decks · synergy 0.23

Noctis, Heir Apparent is built around equipping and attacking with legendary weapons, and Vorpal Sword is one of the most efficient ways to give that gameplan a direct player-elimination axis alongside the deck's other combat-damage payoffs.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Vorpal Sword does its best work — three opponents means three targets for the elimination ability, and the deathtouch alone pulls weight in a format defined by large blockers and big creatures. The eight-mana activation is slow for a 60-card format, but Vorpal Sword is technically legal in Legacy, Vintage, Modern, and Pioneer; in practice, deathtouch for one equip is fair but unremarkable, and the kill trigger costs far too much to matter in games that end on turn four or five. Oathbreaker is a real home for the same reasons Commander is — the Planeswalker-and-signature-spell structure means games go long enough that Vorpal Sword's upside is live.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Pricing data for Vorpal Sword isn't available in this snapshot, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the current market price before buying. Given that it sees the overwhelming majority of its play in Commander and has a focused audience of Equipment and Assassin-tribal decks, it tends to sit in a narrow demand band — worth picking up if you're building any of the commanders above.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.