Acererak the Archlich
Legendary Creature — Zombie Wizard
When Acererak enters, if you haven't completed Tomb of Annihilation, return Acererak to its owner's hand and venture into the dungeon.
Whenever Acererak attacks, for each opponent, you create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token unless that player sacrifices a creature of their choice.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Secret Lair Drop
- Price
- $7.56
- EDHREC rank
- #5676
Acererak the Archlich is a combo piece first and a threat second — pair it with Rooftop Storm and you're casting it for free every turn, generating dungeon completions on a loop. The cost is real: without the combo infrastructure in place, a three-mana 6/6 that returns to hand rather than the battlefield is a card that does nothing on its own.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Sefris of the Hidden Ways
Sefris of the Hidden Ways turns every dungeon completion Acererak the Archlich generates into a reanimation trigger, so the loop becomes a full engine — complete Dungeon of the Mad Mage repeatedly and reanimate your best creature every turn.
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
Acererak the Archlich slots into Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver as a secondary combo line — Rooftop Storm makes every loop free, and Wilhelt's token generation and Decayed triggers compound alongside it.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Acererak the Archlich lives — the dungeon loop is slow and incremental in a vacuum, but multiplayer's longer games give you time to assemble the pieces, and the payoff punishes unprepared tables. In Legacy and Vintage it's a legal oddity with no competitive footprint; the bounce-to-hand clause makes it a liability in faster, interactive formats where you simply can't afford three mana for a card that doesn't stick. Modern and Pioneer follow the same logic — the dungeon mechanic has no support structure there to make the loop worth building around. Oathbreaker is theoretically viable as a spell-based combo shell, but the format sees too little play for Acererak to matter.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Acererak the ArchlichRooftop Storm
Infinite card draw; Infinite draw triggers; Near-infinite +1/+1 counters; Near-infinite colored mana; Near-infinite creature tokens; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite lifegain; Near-infinite lifegain triggers; Near-infinite lifeloss; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite storm count; Near-infinite Treasure tokens; Near-infinite ventures into the dungeon
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Acererak the ArchlichRelic of LegendsHeartless Summoning
Infinite card draw; Infinite draw triggers; Near-infinite +1/+1 counters; Near-infinite colored mana; Near-infinite creature tokens; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite lifegain; Near-infinite lifegain triggers; Near-infinite lifeloss; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite storm count; Near-infinite Treasure tokens; Near-infinite ventures into the dungeon
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Acererak the ArchlichAyara, First of LocthwainBontu's MonumentK'rrik, Son of YawgmothJet Medallion
Infinite card draw; Infinite draw triggers; Near-infinite +1/+1 counters; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite colored mana; Near-infinite creature tokens; Near-infinite lifegain; Near-infinite lifegain triggers; Near-infinite lifeloss; Near-infinite storm count; Near-infinite Treasure tokens; Near-infinite ventures into the dungeon
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Acererak the ArchlichAyara, First of LocthwainBontu's MonumentK'rrik, Son of YawgmothHeartless Summoning
Infinite card draw; Infinite draw triggers; Near-infinite +1/+1 counters; Near-infinite colored mana; Near-infinite creature tokens; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite lifegain; Near-infinite lifegain triggers; Near-infinite lifeloss; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite storm count; Near-infinite Treasure tokens; Near-infinite ventures into the dungeon
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Acererak the ArchlichRelic of LegendsUrza's Incubator
Infinite card draw; Infinite draw triggers; Near-infinite +1/+1 counters; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite Treasure tokens; Near-infinite colored mana; Near-infinite creature tokens; Near-infinite lifegain; Near-infinite lifegain triggers; Near-infinite lifeloss; Near-infinite storm count; Near-infinite ventures into the dungeon
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
There is no true budget replacement for Acererak the Archlich because the dungeon-looping line is mechanically unique — no other card bounces itself on dungeon completion and resets the whole sequence. If you want a cheap recursive combo piece in the same shells, Gravecrawler fills the Rooftop Storm loop role in Zombie decks for under a dollar, though it contributes nothing to dungeon synergies.
Price Context
Current price
$7.56 mid tier
At $7.56, Acererak the Archlich sits in mid-tier pricing — reasonable for a card that anchors dedicated combo lines in high-popularity commanders like Sefris of the Hidden Ways. It's not a card you're buying speculatively; you buy it because you're building the deck that needs it.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.