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Commander Nexus
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  3. Erebos, Bleak-Hearted

Command zone

Erebos, Bleak-Hearted

Erebos, Bleak-Hearted

Legendary Enchantment Creature — God

Erebos wants a deck that sacrifices its own creatures to drain opponents' life. It also suits a deck that gives up its own cards on purpose to get something back.

  • Mana cost3 genericblack
  • Black ()
  • Power / toughness5 / 6
  • RarityMythic

Indestructible

As long as your devotion to black is less than five, Erebos isn't a creature.

Whenever another creature you control dies, you may pay 2 life. If you do, draw a card.

1 genericblack, Sacrifice another creature: Target creature gets -2/-1 until end of turn.

Build a deck with Erebos Find it in the app

Cards That Fit Erebos, Bleak-Hearted

Picked for what they do in Erebos's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Erebos'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.Sol RingOpen the full glossary

plan6

The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

Rulings for Erebos, Bleak-Hearted

explain how Erebos 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 Coast 24 Jan 2020

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.

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

Colorless and generic mana symbols ({C}, {0}, {1}, {2}, {X}, and so on) in mana costs of permanents you control don’t count toward your devotion to any color.

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

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

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

Erebos’s last ability can target the creature you’ll sacrifice to pay its cost. In this case, the ability won’t resolve, but Erebos’s triggered ability will trigger.

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

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

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

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.

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

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

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

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.

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

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

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

If one or more creatures you control die at the same time as Erebos, its triggered ability triggers for each of those creatures.

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

If you put an Aura on an opponent’s permanent, you still control the Aura, and mana symbols in its mana cost count towards your devotion.

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

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

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

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

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

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.

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

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.

Wizards of the Coast 24 Jan 2020

While resolving Erebos’s triggered ability, you can’t pay more than 2 life to draw more than one card.

16 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Erebos, and what they share.

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 glossaryBPlayers write colors as letters: B for black.AristocratsAristocrats decks sacrifice their own creatures on purpose and profit every time one dies, often by draining life from each opponent. A sacrifice outlet, a card that lets you sacrifice whenever you like, decides when that happens.Open the Aristocrats pageSacrifice OutletA permanent that lets you sacrifice your own creatures or artifacts whenever you want, usually for free. Every Aristocrats deck needs one, because cards that reward a creature dying only help if you choose when it dies. Ashnod's Altar, Viscera SeerOpen the Sacrifice Outlet pageProtectionA creature with protection from something, like a color, is safe from anything with that quality. It cannot be damaged, enchanted or equipped, blocked, or targeted by it, and players remember the four with the word DEBT. It does not stop effects that neither target nor damage, like a board wipe that destroys every creature. ProgenitusOpen the Protection pageDrawDraws you extra cards. More cards means more choices every turn, and in a 100-card deck it is the main way to find the pieces you need. Rhystic Study, SkullclampOpen the Draw pageDeath TriggerTriggers when a creature dies, whether it is this creature, one of yours or an opponent's. These are the cards that pay you in an Aristocrats deck: something else makes creatures die, and these decide what you get each time. Blood Artist, Solemn SimulacrumOpen the Death Trigger pageMana SinkGives you somewhere useful to spend spare mana, usually through an ability you can activate again and again. Rogue's Passage, Mind StoneOpen the Mana Sink pageSacrificeSacrifice decks give up their own creatures, Treasures and other cards on purpose and get something back each time. A sacrifice outlet, a card that lets you sacrifice whenever you want, is the heart of the deck.Open the Sacrifice pageGame ChangerCards that warp the game disproportionately around themselves, requiring immediate answers.What the brackets meanGods / DevotionGods, and cards that count your devotion: the number of mana symbols of one color among the costs of your permanents. The Theros Gods cannot be destroyed, and only become creatures when your devotion to their color is high enough.Open the Gods / Devotion 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 pageCombat TrickAn instant you cast during a fight to change how it ends: making a creature bigger or smaller, or keeping your creatures from dying. Boros Charm, Flawless ManeuverOpen the Combat Trick pageLife Pay EngineCards that let you pay life instead of mana, or pay life for an extra effect, treating your life total as something to spend.Open the Life Pay Engine page