Defiler of Instinct card art

Defiler of Instinct

Creature — Phyrexian Kavu MV 4

Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.

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What it doesCombosRulingsIn the 99Every version

What it does

First strike

As an additional cost to cast red permanent spells, you may pay 2 life. Those spells cost less to cast if you paid life this way. This effect reduces only the amount of red mana you pay.

Whenever you cast a red permanent spell, this creature deals 1 damage to any target.

Combos with Defiler of Instinct

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.

Combo data from Commander Spellbook, the community-maintained database of Magic combos. Mirrored nightly.

Rulings

2 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.

  • 2022-09-09

    You may only pay the additional cost once per permanent spell.

  • 2022-09-09

    Some players may make the mental shortcut that the Defilers effectively turn one of the colored mana symbols in the spell’s cost into a Phyrexian colored mana symbol. Despite the similarity in function, this ability does not cause the spells to have Phyrexian mana symbols in their costs. Sorry, Rage Extractor!

Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.

In the 99

Every deck whose current list includes Defiler of Instinct, whatever its commander.

Decks running it 2
Games played 0
Win rate — Fewer than 5 completed games, which is not enough to publish a rate yet.
Confirmed on board 0 Games where a board photo caught it actually in play.

Most played under

Commander Decks Games Win rate
Tannuk, Steadfast Second 1 0 —

Colors it shows up in

  • Mono-Red 1 deck

Every version of Defiler of Instinct

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.

Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Defiler of Instinct. 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.