Necrotic Plague
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has "At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this creature."
When enchanted creature dies, its controller chooses target creature one of their opponents controls. Return this card from its owner's graveyard to the battlefield attached to that creature.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Magic 2011
- Price
- $0.38
- EDHREC rank
- #17221
Necrotic Plague locks an opponent's best creature into a death loop, destroying it at the start of each of their upkeeps and jumping to the next creature they control — all for four mana. The cost is that it bounces off your own board if an opponent ever lets it land on nothing, but in the right shell, specifically Eriette, the Beguiler, that's a feature you can engineer rather than a bug you have to manage.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Eriette, the Beguiler
Eriette, the Beguiler gains life whenever an enchanted creature attacks, and her passive drains opponents equal to the number of Auras you control — meaning Necrotic Plague is never dead weight even before it starts eating creatures, and the recurring destruction syncs cleanly with her strategy of weaponizing enchantments against the table.
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 |
Necrotic Plague sees essentially zero competitive play in Legacy, Modern, or Vintage — four mana for a conditional, slow-burn removal enchantment doesn't meet the bar in formats where games end before the loop generates value. Commander is where it actually functions: the multiplayer board state means there's almost always a creature to jump to, and four mana is unremarkable in a format built around six-mana commanders. Oathbreaker is legal but shares the same caveat as Commander — it works if the game goes long enough to matter, which is less reliable at two players.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.38 bulk tier
At $0.38, Necrotic Plague is firmly bulk — you're paying for the effect, not the cardboard. Bulk enchantments with narrow synergy homes don't tend to spike, so don't expect the price to move; just pick one up when you're sleeving an Eriette, the Beguiler build and forget about it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.