Erebos, Bleak-Hearted
Legendary Enchantment Creature — God
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to black is less than five, Erebos isn't a creature.
Whenever another creature you control dies, you may pay 2 life. If you do, draw a card.
, Sacrifice another creature: Target creature gets -2/-1 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Theros Beyond Death Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #3891
Erebos, Bleak-Hearted turns every creature death into a draw trigger, stapling a repeatable sacrifice outlet onto a five-mana indestructible enchantment god — the card advantage engine is always on as long as you're killing your own stuff. The life payment is real, but in black sacrifice decks that cost is either irrelevant or actively fuels other engines, and commanders like Rendmaw, Creaking Nest make the whole package absurd.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Rendmaw, Creaking Nest
Rendmaw, Creaking Nest generates tokens on creature ETBs and deaths, meaning every sacrifice cycle through Erebos, Bleak-Hearted both draws a card and produces more fodder for the next loop — the two cards form a self-sustaining engine with almost no external support needed.
Anikthea, Hand of Erebos
Anikthea, Hand of Erebos animates enchantments as creature copies, and Erebos, Bleak-Hearted is both an enchantment and a draw engine — running Erebos here means it pulls double duty as a constellation trigger and a card-advantage source feeding off Anikthea's inevitable combat deaths.
Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder floods the board with Thrull tokens and then self-sacrifices them to avoid dying, making Erebos, Bleak-Hearted's draw trigger fire constantly at minimal investment — every Thrull you cash in is a card.
Athreos, Shroud-Veiled
Athreos, Shroud-Veiled puts coin counters on opponents' creatures and steals them when they die, and pairing it with Erebos, Bleak-Hearted means you're drawing cards off every theft-kill while maintaining a pressure loop your opponents can't easily break.
Zur, Eternal Schemer
Zur, Eternal Schemer animates enchantments with mana value three or less as creatures, and Erebos, Bleak-Hearted — a god that already wants to be in enchantment-heavy builds — slots in as both a beater and a draw engine that Zur's attacks naturally support.
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 |
Erebos, Bleak-Hearted is where it matters most in Commander, where creature-based sacrifice loops are a primary archetype and card advantage is the premium resource — the combination of indestructibility, a free sacrifice outlet, and repeatable draw on a single card is exactly what black go-wide and aristocrats decks want. In competitive non-rotating formats like Legacy and Vintage, five mana is too slow against the existing threats and countermagic density, so Erebos rarely sees play there despite being legal. Modern and Pioneer are similarly unkind: the format speed and the prevalence of exile-based removal undercut both the indestructibility and the value engine before it gets going. Commander remains the correct home.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Erebos, Bleak-Hearted isn't currently available through this tool, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the live number before buying. Given its role as a five-mana enchantment god with a strong but niche application, it tends to sit in the mid-range rather than commanding a premium — worth verifying before you trade for it.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.