Ertai 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 cost
White, Blue, Black ()
Power / toughness3 / 4
RarityRare
, , Sacrifice a creature or enchantment: Counter target spell.
Picked for what they do in Ertai's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Ertai'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 Ertai 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 Coast4 Oct 2004
The Legend rule only applies to two legendary permanents with identical names. If the names are different, even if they depict the same character, the rule does not apply.
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 glossaryWUBPlayers write colors as letters: W for white, U for blue, B for black. Blue is U because B was already taken by 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 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 pageCounterspell - HardCancels a spell outright, with no way for its caster to pay to save it. The most reliable kind of counterspell. CounterspellOpen the Counterspell - Hard pageCounterspellCancels a spell or ability while it is waiting on the stack, so it never takes effect. The countered spell goes to its owner's graveyard without doing anything. CounterspellOpen the Counterspell pageControlControl decks answer what everyone else plays, stopping spells and removing dangerous cards, then win slowly once they are in charge. Expect lots of removal, spells that cancel other spells, and extra card draw.Open the Control pageStack InteractionActs while a spell is waiting to take effect: countering it, changing what it targets, or copying it. When someone casts a spell it waits on the stack, and every player gets priority, a chance to respond, before it happens. Counterspell, NegateOpen the Stack Interaction page
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, Sacrifice a creature or enchantment: Counter target spell.
Open the full glossary
