Archfiend of Despair
Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.
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What it does
Flying
Your opponents can't gain life.
At the beginning of each end step, each opponent loses life equal to the life that player lost this turn. (Damage causes loss of life.)
Combos with Archfiend of Despair
The lines this card is part of, what it needs alongside it, and what the cards do together. An infinite result is the one that moves a deck's bracket.
- Blessed Wind Infinite
- Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent
- Target opponent loses the game
- Scourge of the Skyclaves Infinite
- Infinite lifeloss
- Shard of the Nightbringer Infinite
- Infinite lifeloss for target opponent
- Target opponent loses the game
- Magister Sphinx Infinite
- Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent
- Target opponent loses the game
- Scytheclaw Infinite
- Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent
- Target opponent loses the game
- Tree of Perdition Infinite
- Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent
- Heartless Hidetsugu Infinite
- Each opponent with an even life total loses the game
- Near-infinite damage to all players
- Near-infinite lifeloss
- Raving Dead Infinite
- Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent
- Target opponent loses the game
Showing the 8 shortest and most explosive. This card appears in more than these. Follow any of them through to Commander Spellbook to browse the rest.
Combo data from Commander Spellbook, the community-maintained database of Magic combos. Mirrored nightly.
Rulings
3 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.
- 2018-06-08
Archfiend of Despair's last ability counts only how much life was lost. It doesn't care whether a player also gained life.
- 2018-06-08
The amount of life to lose is determined only as Archfiend of Despair's triggered ability resolves. For example, if you control two of them and an opponent lost 3 life earlier in the turn, the first ability to resolve would have that player lose 3 life, and the second would have that player lose 6 life.
- 2018-06-08
In a Two-Headed Giant game, damage and life loss happen to each player individually. If each player on a team is dealt 2 damage, each of those players loses 2 life and the team's life total goes down by 4. When Archfiend of Despair's ability resolves, each of those players again loses 2 life and the team's life total goes down again by 4; they don't each lose 4 life.
Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.
In the 99
Every deck whose current list includes Archfiend of Despair, whatever its commander.
Most played under
| Commander | Decks | Games | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jace, Multiverse Architect | 8 | 0 | — |
| Gisa and Geralf | 3 | 0 | — |
| Athreos, God of Passage | 1 | 0 | — |
| Be'lakor, the Dark Master | 1 | 0 | — |
| Rakdos, Lord of Riots | 1 | 0 | — |
| The Lord of Pain | 1 | 0 | — |
Colors it shows up in
- Four-Color (no Green) 8 decks
- Dimir 3 decks
- Rakdos 2 decks
- Grixis 1 deck
- Orzhov 1 deck
Archfiend of Despair price history
The Reality Fracture Commander #46 printing, as Scryfall reports the TCGplayer market. Updated nightly. Click any version below to chart its price.
Every recorded price change
| Date | Non-foil |
|---|---|
| Oct 27, 2026 | $3.49 |
| Oct 26, 2026 | $3.49 |
| Oct 25, 2026 | $3.63 |
| Oct 24, 2026 | $3.73 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | $3.81 |
| Oct 22, 2026 | $4.12 |
| Oct 21, 2026 | $4.31 |
| Oct 20, 2026 | $4.24 |
| Oct 19, 2026 | $4.87 |
| Oct 18, 2026 | $4.70 |
| Oct 17, 2026 | $4.41 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | $4.37 |
| Oct 15, 2026 | $4.13 |
| Oct 14, 2026 | $3.79 |
| Oct 13, 2026 | $3.44 |
| Oct 12, 2026 | $3.38 |
| Oct 11, 2026 | $3.44 |
| Oct 10, 2026 | $3.08 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | $3.15 |
| Oct 7, 2026 | $2.83 |
| Oct 6, 2026 | $3.01 |
| Oct 5, 2026 | $2.70 |
| Oct 4, 2026 | $2.59 |
| Oct 3, 2026 | $2.79 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | $9.37 |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $13.67 |
| Sep 30, 2026 | $16.31 |
| Sep 29, 2026 | $16.70 |
| Sep 28, 2026 | $20.75 |
A row is recorded only on nights the price moved, so each price held until the row above it.
Every version of Archfiend of Despair
4 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly. A printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall publishes none for some of them. Click a card's art to chart that version's price above.
- Normal
- $3.49
- Normal
- $22.19
- Foil
- $28.78
Etched
- Etched
- $44.37
Battlebond
- Normal
- $23.30
- Foil
- $33.09
Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Archfiend of Despair. It runs a name search across every version, which covers the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.
Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only. No individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.
