Lich's Tomb
Artifact
You don't lose the game for having 0 or less life.
Whenever you lose life, sacrifice a permanent for each 1 life you lost. (Damage causes loss of life.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Darksteel
- Price
- $3.55
- EDHREC rank
- #15552
Lich's Tomb makes you indestructible — as long as you can keep sacrificing permanents to pay for every point of damage that gets through. Iroh, Tea Master and other token-generating commanders treat that tax as fuel rather than a cost, but in shells that can't produce expendable permanents at scale, Lich's Tomb drains your board faster than any opponent would.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Iroh, Tea Master
Iroh, Tea Master generates a steady stream of Food tokens on upkeep, which converts Lich's Tomb's damage-payment clause into a near-free indestructibility engine — opponents swing into you, you sacrifice Foods, and Iroh keeps the supply flowing.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Lich's Tomb is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but its real home is Commander, where the 40-life total, multiplayer damage sources, and token-generation synergies make the sacrifice engine sustainable. In Legacy and Vintage the four-mana artifact simply doesn't compete — those formats end before indestructibility on the player ever matters. Modern is legal in theory but offers no realistic shell that exploits the effect before faster threats close the game. Oathbreaker is the one fringe format where a planeswalker commander pairing tokens with Lich's Tomb could generate some genuine resilience.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$3.55 cheap tier
At $3.55, Lich's Tomb sits in the cheap tier — low enough to experiment with in any Commander build that wants the effect. It's a narrow enough card that demand stays modest, so don't expect the price to move much in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Iroh, Tea Master
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.