Undercity Plague
Sorcery
Target player loses 1 life, discards a card, then sacrifices a permanent of their choice.
Cipher (Then you may exile this spell card encoded on a creature you control. Whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, its controller may cast a copy of the encoded card without paying its mana cost.)
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Gatecrash
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #20018
Undercity Plague forces every opponent to sacrifice a permanent, discard a card, and lose a life — each upkeep, for as long as it stays on the battlefield. Six mana is a real ask, but the cipher mechanic means the first time you connect with a creature, the trigger resets for free.
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 |
Undercity Plague is a Commander card through and through — the cipher trigger scales with player count, so what punishes one opponent at the table punishes three, and the cumulative pressure compounds fast. In Legacy, Modern, or Pioneer, a six-mana enchantment-speed effect that requires a combat connection is simply too slow against decks that win before turn four. Undercity Plague is legal in those formats but sees no competitive play there. In Commander it belongs in dedicated discard or sacrifice-punishment shells, where the upkeep drain layers on top of existing attrition.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, Undercity Plague is deep bulk — you're picking this out of a commons box, not a singles binder. The price reflects its narrow home; it holds that floor as long as it stays a Commander-only niche card, which it almost certainly will.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.