Castle Locthwain
Land
This land enters tapped unless you control a Swamp.
: Add 
.
, : Draw a card, then you lose life equal to the number of cards in your hand.
- CMC
- 0
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Throne of Eldraine Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #733
Castle Locthwain turns an empty hand into a refill at the cost of life equal to cards in the drawing player's hand — a reliable staple in black decks that burn through resources fast. The life payment stings in longer games, but any mono-black or Orzhov commander like Nalia de'Arnise that dumps its hand by turn four will barely notice it.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Nalia de'Arnise
Nalia de'Arnise runs a low-to-the-ground tribal package that empties its hand quickly, making Castle Locthwain's life payment trivially small and the card draw immediately meaningful.
Burakos, Party Leader // Folk Hero
Burakos, Party Leader // Folk Hero floods the board with party creatures and drains its hand in the process — Castle Locthwain steps in as a no-setup refill that keeps the party count climbing.
Cecil, Dark Knight
Cecil, Dark Knight incentivizes attacking and advancing the board aggressively, which depletes resources fast; Castle Locthwain provides the low-commitment draw engine the deck needs to sustain that pressure.
Toshiro Umezawa
Toshiro Umezawa wants a hand stocked with instants at all times, and Castle Locthwain offers a tapped-land slot that doubles as a draw outlet when the graveyard engine is online and the hand runs thin.
Ayara, First of Locthwain
Ayara, First of Locthwain drains opponents whenever black creatures enter, so the life lost to Castle Locthwain is routinely recouped through normal gameplay — it's a clean cost-neutral draw source in that shell.
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 |
In Commander, Castle Locthwain is a consensus inclusion in any mono-black or heavily black deck that regularly empties its hand — the activated ability is a land slot that doubles as late-game card advantage, and the life cost is largely irrelevant at 40 life. In Modern and Pioneer, it sees play in black midrange and control shells that need card selection without dedicating a spell slot, though the tap-until-next-turn timing is a real drawback in interactive formats where tapping out matters. Legacy has enough competition from more powerful black draw engines that Castle Locthwain is fringe at best there. It's illegal in Standard and Pauper, so its competitive home remains Modern and Pioneer alongside its Commander dominance.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't available at the moment, so check Scryfall or your preferred retailer for the current market price. Castle Locthwain has historically settled in the $3–6 range depending on printing, which makes it a low-friction pickup for any black Commander deck that can use it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Nalia de'Arnise
- Burakos, Party Leader // Folk Hero
- Cecil, Dark Knight
- Toshiro Umezawa
- Ayara, First of Locthwain
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.