Carnage Altar
Artifact
, Sacrifice a creature: Draw a card.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Commander 2013
- Price
- $0.13
- EDHREC rank
- #15502
Carnage Altar turns any creature death into a card draw trigger for three mana — colorless, repeatable, and usable at instant speed. The catch is that three-mana activation cost, which makes it a liability in fast metas but a genuine value engine in sacrifice-heavy builds like The Locust God, where the draw triggers chain into more insects and more fodder.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Carnage Altar is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it sees essentially no play outside Commander — the three-mana activation is simply too slow for eternal formats where cheaper draw engines dominate. In Commander, it earns its slot in dedicated sacrifice or aristocrats decks where creatures are dying every turn and you need a colorless outlet that doesn't require a specific color pip to operate.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
The Locust GodCarnage AltarMana Echoes
Infinite card draw; Infinite draw triggers; Near-infinite colorless mana; Near-infinite creature tokens with haste; Near-infinite death triggers; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite sacrifice triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Nadir KrakenCarnage AltarMana Echoes
Infinite card draw; Infinite draw triggers; Near-infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature; Near-infinite colorless mana; Near-infinite creature tokens; Near-infinite death triggers; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite sacrifice triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.13 bulk tier
At $0.13, Carnage Altar is pure bulk — there's no financial floor beneath it, and supply will never be an issue. Pick it up as a throw-in; it won't appreciate, but at this price you're paying for function, not value.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.