Yuan Shao's Infantry
Creature — Human Soldier
Whenever this creature attacks alone, this creature can't be blocked this combat.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Portal Three Kingdoms
- Price
- $6.76
- EDHREC rank
- #30630
Yuan Shao's Infantry is a 3/3 for three mana that enters with a +1/+1 counter if you control a legendary creature — passable stats, conditional upside. The effect is narrow enough that it's only worth running in dedicated Three Kingdoms legendary-matters builds, not as a general goodstuff creature.
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 |
Yuan Shao's Infantry is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but realistically only sees play in Commander. Legacy and Vintage have no interest in a three-mana 3/3 with a conditional counter, and the card is absent from Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper entirely. In Commander, Yuan Shao's Infantry fits narrowly into decks built around the Portal Three Kingdoms legendary creature subtype, where the +1/+1 counter trigger fires consistently and the creature slots into tribal or aristocrats synergies.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
If you want a three-mana creature that reliably enters with a +1/+1 counter in legendary-matters shells, Yuan Shao's Infantry competes with creatures that self-counter unconditionally — most of which cost less. The trade-off is that those alternatives lack the specific creature type or thematic identity that slots Yuan Shao's Infantry into Three Kingdoms tribal lists.
Price Context
Current price
$6.76 mid tier
At $6.76, Yuan Shao's Infantry sits in the mid tier almost entirely on collector demand for Portal Three Kingdoms cards rather than competitive play value. That price is unlikely to drop significantly given the set's scarcity, but you're paying for rarity, not power.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.