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Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern

Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern

Legendary Creature — God // Legendary Artifact

Tergrid 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 genericblackblack
  • Black ()
  • Power / toughness4 / 5
  • RarityRare

Menace

Whenever an opponent sacrifices a nontoken permanent or discards a permanent card, you may put that card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.

//

tap: Target player loses 3 life unless they sacrifice a nonland permanent of their choice or discard a card.

3 genericblack: Untap Tergrid's Lantern.

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Cards That Fit Tergrid, God of Fright

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

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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 Tergrid, God of Fright

explain how Tergrid 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 5 Feb 2021

A modal double-faced card can't be transformed or be put onto the battlefield transformed. Ignore any instruction to transform a modal double-faced card or to put one onto the battlefield transformed.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

A permanent card is an artifact, creature, enchantment, land, or planeswalker card.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If an effect allows you to play a land or cast a spell from among a group of cards, you may play or cast a modal double-faced card with any face that fits the criteria of that effect.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If an effect allows you to play a specific modal double-faced card, you may cast it as a spell or play it as a land, as determined by which face you choose to play. If an effect allows you to cast (rather than "play") a specific modal double-faced card, you can't play it as a land.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If an effect instructs a player to choose a card name, the name of either face may be chosen. If that effect or a linked ability refers to a spell with the chosen name being cast and/or a land with the chosen name being played, it considers only the chosen name, not the other face's name.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If an effect puts a double-faced card onto the battlefield, it enters with its front face up. If that front face can't be put onto the battlefield, it doesn't enter the battlefield.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If an opponent sacrifices a nontoken permanent or discards a permanent card as part of paying the cost of a spell or ability, Tergrid's ability will trigger and goes on the stack on top of that spell or ability. Tergrid's ability will resolve before that spell or ability.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If an opponent sacrifices a nontoken permanent, it doesn't matter which graveyard it goes to. Tergrid's ability will trigger.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If the card leaves the graveyard before Tergrid's ability resolves, you can't put it onto the battlefield, even if it returns to the graveyard before the ability resolves.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

If you put an Aura onto the battlefield using Tergrid's ability, you choose what the Aura will enchant just before it enters the battlefield. An Aura put onto the battlefield this way doesn't target the player or permanent it will enchant, so permanents or players with hexproof may be chosen; however, the chosen recipient must be able to legally be enchanted by the Aura, so a player or permanent with protection from one of the Aura's qualities can't be chosen this way. If there's nothing legal for the Aura to enchant, it stays in the graveyard.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

In the Commander variant, a double-faced card's color identity is determined by the mana costs and mana symbols in the rules text of both faces combined. If either face has a color indicator or basic land type, those are also considered.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

The mana value of a modal double-faced card is based on the characteristics of the face that's being considered. On the stack and battlefield, consider whichever face is up. In all other zones, consider only the front face. This is different than how the mana value of a transforming double-faced card is determined.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

The player targeted by the first ability of Tergrid's Lantern can choose to lose 3 life even if they have nonland permanents to sacrifice or cards to discard. They can't choose to sacrifice a nonland permanent if they don't control any, nor can they choose to discard a card if they have none in hand.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

There is a single triangle icon in the top left corner of the front face. There is a double triangle icon in the top left corner of the back face.

Wizards of the Coast 5 Feb 2021

To determine whether it is legal to play a modal double-faced card, consider only the characteristics of the face you're playing and ignore the other face's characteristics.

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

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Tergrid, 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 PayoffRewards you whenever something is sacrificed, meaning put into the graveyard on purpose. The reward might be a +1/+1 counter, a card, or a drained opponent, and it is the reason a deck sacrifices its own creatures. Compare Sacrifice Outlet, the card that lets you sacrifice, and Death Trigger, which fires when a creature dies for any reason. Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, Mayhem Devil, Savra, Queen of the GolgariOpen the Sacrifice Payoff pageReanimationReturns a creature card from a graveyard straight to the battlefield, skipping its mana cost. That is why decks built around it put their biggest creatures into the graveyard on purpose. Named for Reanimate. Animate DeadOpen the Reanimation pageLife DrainAn opponent loses life and you gain that life from the same effect. Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat. It lets Aristocrats decks win without ever attacking. Every drain card is also tagged Life Gain; this tag is the part where the life comes out of somebody.Open the Life Drain pageRecursionBrings cards back from the graveyard: to your hand, to the battlefield, or letting them be cast again from where they lie. Eternal Witness, Reanimate, VictimizeOpen the Recursion 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 pageGroup Slug / PunisherDeals damage or drains life from every opponent at once, or forces a choice where each option hurts. It usually sits on a permanent and fires over and over rather than doing it a single time. ManabarbsOpen the Group Slug / Punisher pageForced SacrificeMakes opponents sacrifice their own permanents. Because they choose what to lose, it gets around protection and hexproof that ordinary removal cannot touch. Braids, Arisen Nightmare, Living DeathOpen the Forced Sacrifice pageGroup SlugGroup Slug decks hurt every player at the table at once, then make sure they can survive the pain better than anyone else. Typical cards make each player take damage or lose life whenever they draw, cast a spell or tap a land for mana.Open the Group Slug pageOpponent DiscardMakes opponents discard cards from their hands. In a format where everyone starts with seven and refills slowly, stripping a hand can be harder to recover from than losing a creature. Windfall, Sword of Feast and FamineOpen the Opponent Discard pageGods / 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