Fretwork Colony
Creature — Insect
This creature can't block.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and you lose 1 life.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $0.19
- EDHREC rank
- #21892
Fretwork Colony grows by one +1/+1 counter each upkeep at the cost of one life — a negligible tax that produces a threat requiring immediate answers or it snowballs past relevance. It's a narrow card, but in decks that weaponize life loss or counter accumulation, it earns its slot.
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, Fretwork Colony is a role-player in life-loss-matters builds — commanders like Erebos, God of the Dead or K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth treat the one-life-per-upkeep payment as fuel rather than a drawback. In competitive 1v1 formats like Legacy and Modern it simply doesn't compete: a 1/1 that grows one counter per turn is far too slow against interactive decks that can answer it immediately. Pioneer has the same problem — the pay-one-life clause isn't an advantage there, it's just a tax on a vanilla creature. Fretwork Colony is a Commander-only proposition in practice.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.19 bulk tier
At $0.19, Fretwork Colony is deep bulk — you'll find it in a commons box before you'd bother ordering it. Prices this low don't move unless a commander breakout drives sudden demand, and nothing about this card's current trajectory suggests that's coming.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.