Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Erebos, God of the Dead
Erebos, God of the Dead
Legendary Enchantment Creature — God · {3}{B} · Black commander
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to black is less than five, Erebos isn't a creature. (Each {B} in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to black.)
Your opponents can't gain life.
{1}{B}, Pay 2 life: Draw a card.
Build an Erebos, God of the Dead deck →
What Erebos, God of the Dead actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Activated ability{1}{B}, Pay 2 life: Draw a card.
- Static ability · taxYour opponents can't gain life.
- Keyword · indestructibleindestructible
- AbilityAs long as your devotion to black is less than five, Erebos isn't a creature.
What an Erebos, God of the Dead deck needs
Plays as draw engine. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- black mana pips on permanents (five devotion makes it a creature)
- life as a resource — lifegain or cheap life payments fuel the draws
The Erebos, God of the Dead deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 6× A tax, lock or hoser aimed at the opponents — the deck's parity break
- 8× Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- 6× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 10× Refill your hand
- 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
- 8× Gain life repeatedly — for a commander that converts life gained into drain, the gain IS the damage
Best cards for Erebos, God of the Dead
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
A tax, lock or hoser aimed at the opponents — the deck's parity break
- Grafdigger's Cage1 mana
- Opposition Agent3 mana
- Cursed Totem2 mana
- Defense Grid2 mana
- Winter Moon2 mana
- Crawlspace3 mana
- Pithing Needle1 mana
- Petrified Hamlet0 mana
Evasion that does NOT target or attach — for a commander your own auras and equipment cannot legally touch
- Glaring Spotlight1 mana
- Cultist of the Absolute1 mana
- Inquisitorial Rosette2 mana
- Predators' Hour2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar3 mana
- Lord Skitter's Butcher3 mana
- Skorpekh Lord3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Black Sun's Twilight1 mana
- Cut Down1 mana
- Erebos's Intervention1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
- Scheming Symmetry1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
- The Meathook Massacre2 mana
Refill your hand
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Vexing Bauble1 mana
- Ayara, First of Locthwain3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
- Brotherhood Regalia2 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
- Wayfarer's Bauble1 mana
Gain life repeatedly — for a commander that converts life gained into drain, the gain IS the damage
- Basilisk Collar1 mana
- High Market0 mana
- Zuran Orb0 mana
- Blood Artist2 mana
- Zulaport Cutthroat2 mana
- Bloodchief Ascension1 mana
- Shadowspear1 mana
- Westvale Abbey // Ormendahl, Profane Prince0 mana