Ertai, the Corrupted
Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Human Wizard
, 
, Sacrifice a creature or enchantment: Counter target spell.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BUW
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $1.58
- EDHREC rank
- #17787
Ertai, the Corrupted is a repeatable counterspell stapled to a five-mana body — sacrifice a creature or enchantment, pay one blue, and you counter anything on the stack. The cost is real: you need a steady sacrifice outlet to make him reliably threaten counters, and without it he's just a 3/4 that asks nicely.
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 |
Ertai, the Corrupted is a Commander card through and through — his value compounds over a long game where you accrue token generators and enchantments to sacrifice, and the political weight of a standing counter threat is much greater at a four-player table than in one-on-one. In Legacy and Vintage he's technically legal but has never seen competitive play; five mana for a conditional counterspell that needs board infrastructure is nowhere near what those formats demand. Commander is the only context where Ertai, the Corrupted earns his slot, specifically in Esper sacrifice, enchantress, or token shells that can feed him consistently from turn six onward.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.58 cheap tier
At $1.58, Ertai, the Corrupted sits firmly in budget territory — you're getting a unique, repeatable counterspell effect at a price that won't sting if the build doesn't work out. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to spike, so there's no urgency to pick up copies.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.