Phenax, God of Deception card art

Phenax, God of Deception

Legendary Enchantment Creature — God MV 5

Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.

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What it doesCombosRulingsAs a commanderEvery version

What it does

Indestructible

As long as your devotion to blue and black is less than seven, Phenax isn't a creature.

Creatures you control have "T: Target player mills X cards, where X is this creature's toughness."

Combos with Phenax, God of Deception

Lines this card is part of — what it needs alongside it, and what the two of them do. An infinite result is the one that moves a deck's bracket.

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

16 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.

  • 2013-09-15

    Numeric mana symbols ({0}, {1}, and so on) in mana costs of permanents you control don't count toward your devotion to any color.

  • 2013-09-15

    Hybrid mana symbols, monocolored hybrid mana symbols, and Phyrexian mana symbols do count toward your devotion to their color(s).

  • 2013-09-15

    If an activated ability or triggered ability has an effect that depends on your devotion to a color, you count the number of mana symbols of that color among the mana costs of permanents you control as the ability resolves. The permanent with that ability will be counted if it's still on the battlefield at that time.

  • 2013-09-15

    Mana symbols in the text boxes of permanents you control don't count toward your devotion to any color.

  • 2014-02-01

    If you tap Phenax to activate the ability it grants itself, and Phenax is no longer a creature but still on the battlefield as that ability resolves, no cards will be put into the target player's graveyard. Similarly, if Phenax isn't on the battlefield as the ability resolves and wasn't a creature when it left the battlefield, no cards will be put into the graveyard.

  • 2014-02-01

    If Phenax is a creature, it will grant itself the activated ability.

  • 2014-02-01

    If you activate the ability Phenax grants to creatures you control, the toughness of the creature is calculated as the ability resolves. If the creature is no longer on the battlefield at that time, use its toughness when it was last on the battlefield.

  • 2020-01-24

    The type-changing ability that can make a God not be a creature functions only on the battlefield. It's always a creature card in other zones, regardless of your devotion to its color. It's always a creature spell while it's on the stack.

  • 2020-01-24

    If a God stops being a creature, it loses the type creature and the creature type God. It continues to be a legendary enchantment.

  • 2020-01-24

    As a God enters the battlefield, your devotion to its color will determine whether any replacement effects that affect creatures entering the battlefield apply to that God. Because replacement effects are considered before the God is on the battlefield, the mana symbols in its mana cost won't be counted when determining this.

  • 2020-01-24

    If an effect causes a God to lose all abilities, its ability that causes it to stop being a creature still applies if appropriate.

  • 2020-01-24

    If a God is attacking or blocking and it stops being a creature, it will be removed from combat. It won't rejoin combat if it resumes being a creature later during that combat.

  • 2020-01-24

    Counters put on a God remain on it while it's not a creature, even if they have no effect.

  • 2020-01-24

    When a God enters the battlefield, your devotion to its color (including the mana symbols in the mana cost of the God itself) will determine if a creature entered the battlefield or not for abilities that trigger whenever a creature enters the battlefield.

  • 2020-01-24

    The abilities of Gods function as long as they're on the battlefield, regardless of whether they're creatures.

  • 2020-01-24

    Your devotion to two colors is the number of mana symbols among mana costs of permanents you control that are the first color, the second, or both. If an effect counts your devotion to two colors, a hybrid symbol that is both of those colors is counted just once.

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

As a commander

Decks built with Phenax, God of Deception in the command zone.

Decks led 1
Games played 0
Wins 0
Win rate — Fewer than 5 completed games — not enough to publish a rate yet.

Every version of Phenax, God of Deception

3 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 genuinely 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 Phenax, God of Deception — a name search across every version, for 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.