Dark Salvation
Sorcery
Target player creates X 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens, then up to one target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn for each Zombie that player controls.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Eldritch Moon Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #7387
Dark Salvation makes a board of Zombies and kills a creature at instant speed — all on a single scalable spell. In a Liliana, Heretical Healer deck where the Zombie count climbs fast, you're frequently paying two or three mana for several tokens plus a removal spell, which is an absurd rate.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Liliana, Heretical Healer
Liliana, Heretical Healer runs a Zombie-dense shell that inflates Dark Salvation's token output while also giving you recursive bodies to keep the count high — meaning the removal clause rarely costs more than one mana.
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver floods the board with Decayed tokens that pad the Zombie count even before Dark Salvation resolves, so the spell routinely removes a threat for one black mana on top of making additional bodies.
Ghoulcaller Gisa
Ghoulcaller Gisa generates a wide Zombie army that makes Dark Salvation's X cost trivially low for the kill clause, effectively turning it into a token spell with free removal stapled on.
The Scarab God
The Scarab God decks run enough Zombies that Dark Salvation doubles as cheap targeted removal late-game while still adding to the board presence The Scarab God wants to tax opponents with.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed lists include Dark Salvation primarily as efficient removal that scales in token production as the undying engine accumulates creatures — a flexible tool in a deck that wants both interaction and board presence.
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 |
Dark Salvation is a Commander card through and through — its scaling depends on a wide Zombie board, and 100-card singleton is the format where that condition is most reliably met and most explosively rewarded. In competitive 60-card formats like Modern and Pioneer it sees essentially no play: tribal Zombie decks there want consistent, low-cost spells, and a sorcery-speed X-spell with a variable token clause doesn't compete with dedicated removal or lord effects. Legacy and Vintage have the card pools to do far more broken things at similar mana investments. Oathbreaker shares Commander's singleton structure and can hit comparable Zombie densities, so it's the one other format where Dark Salvation occasionally earns a slot.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Dark Salvation isn't available in this snapshot, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the current market rate. Given its narrow tribal application and absence from competitive 60-card formats, it has historically sat in the bulk-to-low-dollar range — worth picking up without hesitation if you're building Zombies.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Liliana, Heretical Healer
- Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
- Ghoulcaller Gisa
- The Scarab God
- Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.