Watchers of the Dead
Artifact Creature — Cat
Exile this creature: Each opponent chooses two cards in their graveyard and exiles the rest.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Amonkhet
- Price
- $0.11
- EDHREC rank
- #21225
Watchers of the Dead is a two-mana artifact creature that forces each opponent to exile all but two cards from their graveyard — a repeatable, symmetry-breaking hate piece that costs almost nothing to deploy. It earns its slot in any deck that recurs artifacts cheaply, and Koll, the Forgemaster in particular gets to replay it every time it dies, making the activation trivial to chain.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Watchers of the Dead is a low-cost answer to graveyard-centric strategies that scales with the number of opponents — hitting three graveyards simultaneously for two mana is efficient enough to justify inclusion in any white artifact deck that can abuse recursion. In Legacy and Vintage, dedicated graveyard hate like Leyline of the Void or Rest in Peace is simply more reliable and less interactive, so Watchers of the Dead rarely makes the cut in those formats. Modern and Pioneer are similar stories — the card is legal but outcompeted by cheaper, more surgical hate at instant speed. Commander is where it actually belongs.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Koll, the ForgemasterKemba, Kha EnduringAshnod's AltarWatchers of the Dead
Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite storm count
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.11 bulk tier
At $0.11, Watchers of the Dead is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not the effect. The price is unlikely to move unless a high-profile Commander deck puts it on the map, so pick up copies freely without a second thought.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.