Murderous Betrayal
Enchantment
, Pay half your life, rounded up: Destroy target nonblack creature. It can't be regenerated.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Nemesis
- Price
- $0.31
- EDHREC rank
- #25245
Murderous Betrayal is a repeatable, unconditional creature removal engine — it kills anything for half your life total, as many times as you can pay. In a life-gain deck or a Commander shell that treats life as a resource, that cost becomes trivially manageable; everywhere else, it will kill you faster than your opponents will.
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 |
Commander is the natural home for Murderous Betrayal — life totals start at 40, life-gain synergies are abundant, and unconditional repeatable removal is worth a steep cost in a format where one creature can take over the game. In Legacy and Vintage, cheaper instant-speed options like Swords to Plowshares exist at no life cost, so Murderous Betrayal never makes the cut in competitive lists. Modern has similarly better options and 20-life starting totals that make the halving cost genuinely dangerous. Oathbreaker follows Commander's logic closely enough that the card is playable there in the right shell, particularly with a life-gain signature spell.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.31 bulk tier
At $0.31, Murderous Betrayal is pure bulk — the price reflects that it sees almost no play outside specific Commander builds. It holds that floor reliably; there's no reprint pressure and no speculative demand pulling it anywhere.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.