Bane of the Living
Creature — Insect
Morph 
(You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 
. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When this creature is turned face up, all creatures get -X/-X until end of turn.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander 2016
- Price
- $0.33
- EDHREC rank
- #9211
Bane of the Living enters the battlefield and immediately threatens a one-sided board wipe — morph it face-up, pay X, and every creature your opponents control gets -X/-X until end of turn. The catch is that the effect is temporary and mana-intensive, so it rewards decks that can either draw a card off the morph trigger or rebuy the enter-the-battlefield effect. Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer turns that cost equation on its head by drawing a card the first time a face-down creature enters each turn, making Bane of the Living free card advantage before the wipe even resolves.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer
Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer draws a card the first time a face-down creature enters each turn, so Bane of the Living replaces itself before you ever pay the unmorph cost — the wipe is almost free value on top of card draw.
Grist, the Hunger Tide
Grist, the Hunger Tide fills the yard and the board with Insects, and Bane of the Living gives the deck a scalable way to clear blockers without spending a dedicated removal slot on a non-creature spell.
Zask, Skittering Swarmlord
Zask, Skittering Swarmlord rewards running high-density Insect payoffs, and Bane of the Living doubles as a removal piece and a creature that fits the tribal count without demanding a dedicated wipe slot.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Bane of the Living does its best work — morph mechanics are slow in heads-up formats, but in four-player pods the tempo loss is acceptable and the payoff of a scalable, repeatable board suppression effect is real. Legacy and Vintage allow it, but morph creatures at three mana that don't immediately impact the board have never been competitive there, and nothing in the current metagame changes that calculus. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander 60-card format worth flagging: if your planeswalker and signature spell both interact with creatures entering the battlefield, Bane of the Living earns a look, but it's a fringe inclusion at best.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.33 bulk tier
At $0.33, Bane of the Living is bulk — you're not paying a premium for anything here, and the price reflects its narrow but real Commander niche. Don't expect significant movement; it's a role-player in specific tribal and morph shells, not a card with crossover demand that would drive the price up.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer
- Grist, the Hunger Tide
- Missy
- Zask, Skittering Swarmlord
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.