Nether Traitor

Nether Traitor card image

Nether Traitor: Creature - Spirit, Secrets of Strixhaven Commander. MTG card printings, market prices, rulings, and format legality on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{B}{B}
Mana value
2
Type
Creature - Spirit
Colour identity
Black (B)
Power / toughness
1/1
Rarity
Rare
Set
Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)
Released
2026-04-24
Collector number
220
Artist
Vance Kovacs
Commander rank
2,347 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
Keywords
Haste, Shadow

Build around this card with Grover

About Nether Traitor

Nether Traitor is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare black creature from Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC), a Commander product released in April 2026. It is collector number 220 in that set, with art by Vance Kovacs. It costs {B}{B} (two black mana) to cast, for a mana value of 2. It is a 1/1 creature. Its colour identity is black. It is legal in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, PreDH and Penny Dreadful. It has been printed in 3 sets, from Time Spiral (2006) to Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (2026). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $1.38 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-12).

Card text

Haste

Shadow (This creature can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.)

Whenever another creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay {B}. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $1.38 (as of 2026-11-12).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of Nether Traitor by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

ModernLegal
LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PreDHLegal
Penny DreadfulLegal

Other printings of Nether Traitor

Nether Traitor has been printed in 3 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

PrintingRarityYear
Time Spiral Remastered (TSR) #127Rare2021
Time Spiral (TSP) #120Rare2006

Official rulings

Six official rulings apply to Nether Traitor, newest first.

  • A token you own that dies is put into your graveyard before it ceases to exist.
  • If Nether Traitor and another creature are put into your graveyard at the same time, Nether Traitor's ability won't trigger. This is because it must be in your graveyard before the creature dies in order for its ability that returns it to the battlefield to trigger.
  • If an attacking creature has multiple evasion abilities, such as shadow and flying, a creature can block it only if that creature satisfies all of the appropriate evasion abilities.
  • If multiple creatures are put into your graveyard at the same time, Nether Traitor's ability triggers for each of them. Once you return it to the battlefield, you may pay {B} for the other abilities as they resolve, but they'll have no effect if you do. Even if Nether Traitor returns to your graveyard, it's considered a new object and won't be returned.
  • Multiple instances of shadow on the same creature are redundant.
  • Once a creature has been blocked, that creature remains blocked and will deal and be dealt combat damage even if it gains or loses shadow or if the blocking creature gains or loses shadow.

Similar cards

Other creature cards with a black colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

In these precons

Nether Traitor is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.

Explore Mana Grove