Ghastly Demise
Instant
Destroy target nonblack creature if its toughness is less than or equal to the number of cards in your graveyard.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- World Championship Decks 2002
- Price
- $0.75
- EDHREC rank
- #16020
Ghastly Demise kills a creature for one black mana — conditionally, but in any graveyard-heavy game the condition is trivially met by turn three. It's a one-mana removal spell in the decks that want it, and that's the whole case.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Ghastly Demise is a Pauper staple, where black control and graveyard-centric shells fill up quickly and one-mana instant-speed removal is a genuine scarce resource. In Legacy and Vintage it's too narrow — Swords to Plowshares and Fatal Push exist, and the threshold condition isn't guaranteed. Commander is the sweet spot for the casual bracket: graveyard decks like Muldrotha, the Gravetide or The Scarab God will hit threshold by turn two or three, and spending one mana at instant speed to answer a threat is excellent rate. In higher-power Commander, though, the conditional ceiling hurts — you can't always guarantee three cards in an opponent's graveyard when you need the removal on turn one.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.75 bulk tier
At $0.75, Ghastly Demise sits at the top of bulk pricing — cheap enough to throw into any black graveyard deck without a second thought. It's not a card that spikes or holds speculative value; it's a role-player you pick up for pennies and never think about again.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.