Ulcerate
Instant
Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn. You lose 3 life.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Foundations Jumpstart
- Price
- $0.20
- EDHREC rank
- #15557
Ulcerate kills any creature with toughness 3 or less for a single black mana — the catch is 3 life off your own total, which rarely matters when the target is dead. It's one of the most mana-efficient removal spells in black, and the life loss is the price you pay for that efficiency.
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, Ulcerate is a clean, cheap answer in the early game but loses relevance as the format's creatures scale into 4-, 5-, and 6-toughness territory — you're running it to handle early threats and utility creatures, not finishers. Legacy and Vintage are where Ulcerate earns its keep most consistently: one-mana instant removal is a real rate in formats where creatures like Delver of Secrets and Dark Confidant define games. Modern is tighter competition — Fatal Push covers most of the same targets with no life loss, but Ulcerate still sees play in shells that want the absolute cheapest removal available. Pioneer has similar dynamics, with Fatal Push again as the baseline comparison and Ulcerate sitting a tier below in most builds.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.20 bulk tier
At $0.20, Ulcerate is deep bulk — you're paying almost nothing for a card that pulls real weight in black aggro and midrange lists. That price is stable; efficient one-mana removal doesn't spike unless a format rotation creates sudden demand.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.