Underrealm Lich
Creature — Zombie Elf Shaman
If you would draw a card, instead look at the top three cards of your library, then put one into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
Pay 4 life: This creature gains indestructible until end of turn. Tap it.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BG
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Guilds of Ravnica
- Price
- $5.84
- EDHREC rank
- #2837
Underrealm Lich replaces every draw with a top-three dig and graveyard filter — effectively tripling your card selection while filling the bin — and the life-loss prevention makes the 4/3 body nearly unkillable in attrition games. The five-mana cost is the ceiling, not a flaw; any graveyard or self-mill deck, Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord builds chief among them, treats that as a bargain.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Underrealm Lich feeds Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord's fling ability by stacking the graveyard every turn while simultaneously digging for the fatties Jarad wants to throw at the table.
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
Every replacement draw mills cards into the graveyard, and Sidisi, Brood Tyrant converts each creature that lands there into a Zombie token — Underrealm Lich turns your draw step into a free Sidisi trigger.
The Mycotyrant
The Mycotyrant counts each card that enters the graveyard from anywhere, so Underrealm Lich's constant self-mill inflates the fungus count without spending any extra mana.
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis wants a stocked graveyard as fast as possible, and Underrealm Lich makes every draw step a three-card mill that also provides the creature density Hogaak needs to convoke and delve.
Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Underrealm Lich loads the graveyard with the permanents Muldrotha, the Gravetide wants to replay, turning each opponent's turn cycle — where the Lich sits in play drawing cards — into passive fuel for Muldrotha's reanimation engine.
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 |
Commander is where Underrealm Lich lives — a long game with multiple draw steps means the replacement effect compounds fast, and the graveyard synergies it enables are everywhere in Golgari, Sultai, and Jund shells. In Modern and Legacy it's legal but functionally irrelevant; five mana for a value engine with no immediate board impact is simply too slow against fast combo and efficient interaction. Pioneer has the same problem, and the format lacks the self-mill payoffs that make the Lich worth the slot. Oathbreaker can support it in the right 60-card shell, but the smaller game size reduces the number of draw steps and dampens the compounding advantage.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Grisly Salvage and Commune with the Gods hit the same graveyard-filling role at bulk prices, but they're one-shots rather than a permanent engine — you're trading repeated filtering for immediate mana efficiency. If you want a creature that sits in play and mills, Stitcher's Supplier costs a fraction of Underrealm Lich and mills six total, though it offers no card selection and dies immediately; the Lich's sustained draw-replacement is genuinely hard to replicate cheaply.
Price Context
Current price
$5.84 mid tier
At $5.84, Underrealm Lich sits at the low end of the mid tier — strong enough to slot into dozens of archetypes, cheap enough that there's no real budget objection. Demand across graveyard staple decks keeps the floor stable, so this is a safe pick-up without any speculative premium attached.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.