Cloud of Darkness wants a deck that plays sturdy creatures that also deal with opponents' cards. It also suits a deck that fills its discard pile and plays cards back out of it.
Mana cost
Black, Green ()
Power / toughness3 / 3
RarityUncommon
Flying
Particle Beam — When Cloud of Darkness enters, target creature an opponent controls gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of permanent cards in your graveyard.
Picked for what they do in Cloud of Darkness's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Cloud of Darkness's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Open the full glossary
explain how Cloud of Darkness works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary
Wizards of the Coast6 Jun 2025
The value of X is calculated only once, as Cloud of Darkness's last ability resolves.
Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryBGPlayers write colors as letters: B for black, G for green.MidrangeMidrange decks play solid creatures that also deal with opponents' cards, attacking when it is safe and defending when it is not. They sit in the middle: slower than an all-out attacking deck, sturdier than a deck built to answer everything.Open the Midrange page-X/-X RemovalRemoves a creature by giving it -X/-X, which lowers its toughness. A creature with 0 or less toughness goes to the graveyard. Like damage, it can miss a big creature: -3/-3 kills a 3/3 but not a 30/30. Unlike damage, it also kills a creature that can't be destroyed (indestructible), because the game's rules put a creature with 0 toughness into the graveyard without destroying it. Dismember Grasp of DarknessOpen the -X/-X Removal pageValue CreatureA creature that does two jobs: it deals with an opponent's card when it arrives, then stays as a real attacker. Its enter the battlefield ability destroys, damages, counters or bounces something, and it has 3 or more power or an ability like flying that makes it hard to block. Answering your opponent and pressuring them with the same card is what a Midrange deck is built on. Shriekmaw, Meteor GolemOpen the Value Creature pageStat ScalingA creature whose power and toughness count something, so it grows as the game goes on. It might count lands you control or cards in your graveyard. Craterhoof Behemoth, Psychosis CrawlerOpen the Stat Scaling pageGraveyard/Self-MillGraveyard decks fill their own graveyard on purpose, then play cards from it as if it were a second hand. Moving cards from the top of your own deck straight into the graveyard is called self-mill.Open the Graveyard/Self-Mill pageGraveyard PayoffRewards you for having cards in your graveyard, or uses them straight from there. Your graveyard is normally where cards go once they are finished with; these turn it into a second hand, and the fuller it is the better they get. Golgari Grave-Troll, SplinterfrightOpen the Graveyard Payoff pageETB ValueDoes something useful the moment it arrives: an enter the battlefield ability, which players shorten to ETB. You keep that effect even if the card is removed straight afterwards, which is why these pair so well with flicker cards that make them enter again. Solemn Simulacrum, The One RingOpen the ETB Value page
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