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Grievous Wound

Enchantment — Aura

Enchant player
Enchanted player can't gain life.
Whenever enchanted player is dealt damage, they lose half their life, rounded up.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{B}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
rare
Set
Duskmourn: House of Horror
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#3431
Buy on TCGplayer
Grievous Wound card art
Grievous Wound sticks a -1/-1 counter on a creature and replaces itself with a Cursed Role token — two meaningful board effects stapled to a two-mana instant. Bloodletter of Aclazotz makes the life loss from Cursed Role drain twice as fast, and Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor turns every Role token into a political weapon or a straight kill condition.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor

Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor

25.2% of decks · synergy 0.24

Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor's entire game plan revolves around generating and weaponizing Role tokens, so Grievous Wound is essentially free value — removal and a fresh token in one spell. The Cursed Role enters play ready to be passed around or cashed in for card advantage the moment Lynde triggers.

02

Zenos yae Galvus

26.6% of decks · synergy 0.24

Zenos yae Galvus rewards aggressive combat and incremental damage, and Grievous Wound delivers both a weakened blocker and a Cursed Role that chips life totals every upkeep. The instant speed lets you shrink a creature mid-combat, then leave the token behind to keep pressure on.

03
Astarion, the Decadent

Astarion, the Decadent

22.5% of decks · synergy 0.20

Astarion, the Decadent cares about life drain and incremental advantages, and Grievous Wound feeds both axes — the -1/-1 counter removes a threat while the Cursed Role bleeds the opponent each upkeep. It's a low-cost piece that keeps the attrition engine running without demanding much mana.

04
Eriette of the Charmed Apple

Eriette of the Charmed Apple

22.2% of decks · synergy 0.19

Eriette of the Charmed Apple wants Auras and Role tokens spread across opponents' creatures, and Grievous Wound produces a Cursed Role with zero setup while also functioning as spot removal. That combination of Role generation and creature shrinkage is exactly what Eriette's passive punishment plan needs.

05
Aphelia, Viper Whisperer

Aphelia, Viper Whisperer

18.4% of decks · synergy 0.18

Aphelia, Viper Whisperer cares about death triggers and creature weakening, and Grievous Wound's -1/-1 counter nudges creatures into range of combat kills or other removal, turning trades into guaranteed deaths. The Cursed Role left behind adds persistent damage that pairs cleanly with Aphelia's attrition-focused toolkit.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

In Commander, Grievous Wound occupies a comfortable role as cheap interaction that replaces itself — the Cursed Role token means you're never fully card-negative, and in enchantment-matters or life-drain strategies it actively advances the game plan rather than just answering a threat. Constructed formats tell a different story: in Modern, Pioneer, and Standard the instant is competing against removal that either costs less or does more, and a -1/-1 counter rarely closes out a game fast enough to matter. Legacy and Vintage have no interest in Grievous Wound at all given the power level of available options. The card's home is squarely in Commander, where the token has time to matter and enough synergies exist to make the full effect add up.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Pricing data for Grievous Wound isn't currently available, so check Scryfall or your preferred vendor for a live number before buying. Given its niche role as a two-mana instant with situational synergy, it's unlikely to carry a significant price tag — budget players should be able to pick it up without much hesitation.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.