Languish
Sorcery
All creatures get -4/-4 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Game Night
- Price
- $0.46
- EDHREC rank
- #5523
Languish kills every creature with 4 or less toughness for four mana — that's most tokens, most mana dorks, and most early threats in a single black sorcery. Sauron, Lord of the Rings runs it at a 35% clip because the -4/-4 effect is reliable enough to clear the board while leaving Sauron's bigger threats standing.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Sauron, Lord of the Rings
Sauron, Lord of the Rings wants Languish because the -4/-4 sweeps out opposing creature piles without touching the chunky Orc tokens and high-toughness threats his deck generates, keeping your board intact after the reset.
Saruman, the White Hand
Saruman, the White Hand leans on Languish to punish token strategies and go-wide decks that can outpace his spell-copying engine — at 18% inclusion it's a consistent answer to boards he can't profitably block through.
Xantcha, Sleeper Agent
Xantcha, Sleeper Agent is a 5/5 that survives Languish cleanly, so the deck uses it as a one-sided-feeling reset that clears whatever your opponents are doing without losing your primary threat.
Massacre Girl, Known Killer
Massacre Girl, Known Killer gives all your creatures menace when they die, so Languish triggering a chain of deaths on -1/-1 counters can snowball her passive into a wrath that also draws cards and buffs your survivors.
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, Languish fills the role of a budget asymmetric sweeper — it reliably clears token swarms, mana dorks, and creature-combo pieces at a cost most black decks can handle on curve. Modern and Pioneer have access to Damnation and The Meathook Massacre, so Languish sits as a budget alternative rather than a first choice in those formats. Legacy barely touches it; the format moves too fast for a four-mana sorcery that doesn't end the game outright. Oathbreaker mirrors Commander's use case closely: boards are smaller, but the -4/-4 threshold is still wide enough to matter.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.46 bulk tier
At $0.46, Languish is firmly bulk — you're paying almost nothing for a functional sweeper that does real work at most Commander tables. Bulk rares with consistent Commander demand tend to stay cheap indefinitely, so there's no urgency to buylist or speculate; just pick up a copy when you need one.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.