Erebos, God of the Dead MTG Card


Erebos transforms life into card draw, empowering players with constant access to their deck’s potential. It controls opponent life gain and serves as a versatile tool in various deck strategies. Countering Erebos involves reducing devotion, enchantment exile, and strategic hand disruption.
Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityMythic
TypeLegendary Enchantment Creature — God
Abilities Indestructible
Power 5
Toughness 7

Text of card

Indestructible As long as your devotion to black is less than five, Erebos isn't a creature. (Each in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to black.) Your opponents can't gain life. , Pay 2 life: Draw a card.


Cards like Erebos, God of the Dead

Erebos, God of the Dead stands as a unique entity in Magic: The Gathering, offering both indestructibility and a passive ability to prevent opponents from gaining life. Indestructible deities like Thassa, God of the Sea share a kinship in their resilience and overarching influence on the battlefield. Thassa’s focus is on manipulating the top of the deck and providing unblockable to creatures, while Erebos comes with the added advantage of a card draw mechanism, albeit at a life cost.

Analogous to Erebos in terms of card advantage is Greed, an enchantment that allows card drawing at a similar cost of life and mana. Unlike Erebos, Greed does not have the body to act as a blocker or attacker and doesn’t restrict life gain. Phyrexian Arena is another relevant comparison, offering consistent card draw with passive life loss each turn, yet it lacks the interactive capability and life-gain denial that Erebos provides.

While each card brings forth a distinct strategy, Erebos, God of the Dead presents a powerful blend of board state control and resource advantage. This makes it a formidable presence in decks designed to capitalize on card draw while inhibiting opponent recovery through life gain.

Thassa, God of the Sea - MTG Card versions
Greed - MTG Card versions
Phyrexian Arena - MTG Card versions
Thassa, God of the Sea - MTG Card versions
Greed - MTG Card versions
Phyrexian Arena - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Erebos, God of the Dead allows players to convert life into drawing power. By paying two life, you can draw a card, making sure your hand is always replenished and giving you more options to respond to the game’s changing landscape.

Resource Acceleration: While Erebos itself doesn’t accelerate resources in the traditional sense of producing mana, its ability to consistently draw cards can lead to finding more land drops and key spells that keep you ahead of your opponents.

Instant Speed: Though Erebos doesn’t operate at instant speed, the flexibility of its activated ability means you can use it at the end of your opponent’s turn, keeping your options open during your own turns and maximizing your potential plays. Its passive ability also ensures that creatures can’t be the source of life gain for your opponents at any time, influencing the game at every stage.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Erebos, God of the Dead requires you to sacrifice a creature besides its other abilities. This can be a tough choice, especially when you’re trying to maintain a presence on the battlefield and not in a position to lose your creatures.

Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost of Erebos is quite specific, needing two black mana along with two of any other type. This makes it a less versatile card in multi-colored decks that may struggle with generating the required black mana consistently.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of four mana, Erebos may come into play later than other cards that provide immediate board presence or advantages. Players might encounter scenarios where deploying Erebos delays their game tempo in contrast to other potential plays with lower mana costs.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Erebos God of the Dead offers great flexibility as a commander or a robust addition to any black-based deck. Its static ability to prevent opponents from gaining life can shut down certain strategies, while its card draw ability is invaluable in any game state, ensuring a steady flow of options for the player.

Combo Potential: This deity shines in combinations where life totals are a resource. Its synergy with effects that manipulate life for gain, such as “Exsanguinate” or “Gray Merchant of Asphodel”, can shift the tide of the game while also providing a resilient threat that’s difficult to permanently remove from the battlefield.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where the life total can be a hot commodity, the influence of Erebos on the board is undeniable. It’s particularly impactful in formats where life gain is prevalent, serving as both a deterrent to opponents and an enabler for potent life-based tactics.


How to beat

Erebos, God of the Dead, presents a unique challenge for players in Magic: The Gathering. As an indestructible enchantment creature, Erebos demands a specific approach. Unlike other creatures, traditional removal spells don’t suffice due to his indestructible nature. To effectively counter Erebos, focus on reducing devotion to black among the permanents you control, as it will turn Erebos into a non-creature enchantment, making him less of a threat on the battlefield.

Moreover, strategies that exile enchantments or alter an opponent’s hand offer a tactical advantage. Consider leveraging enchantment removal spells such as Oblivion Ring or exile-centric cards like Anguished Unmaking to bypass the indestructibility. Alternatively, attacking a player’s hand with Thoughtseize or Duress to disrupt their devotion can also work in your favor. These methods will help to check the influence of Erebos, ensuring he remains a dormant threat rather than an active player in the game.

In essence, circumventing Erebos’s strengths requires a blend of devotion manipulation, enchantment removal, and strategic hand disruption. By adopting these tactics, you can mitigate the impact of Erebos, God of the Dead, and maintain control of the match.


BurnMana Recommendations

Delving into the abilities of Erebos, God of the Dead, reveals a world of strategic depth and utility for MTG enthusiasts. Its card draw for life payment stands as a robust engine in any match, transforming life points into a valuable resource for maintaining card advantage. When it comes to building a collection that cuts across various metas and strategies, Erebos is a top consideration. We encourage you to consider Erebos’s potential to round out your deck’s capabilities and counter prevalent life-gain tactics. Dive deeper into Erebos’s lore, mechanics, and strategic uses with us and enrich your MTG repertoire.


Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Erebos, God of the Dead MTG card by a specific set like Theros and Secret Lair Drop, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Erebos, God of the Dead and other MTG cards:

TCGPlayerBUY NOW
BurnMana is an official partner of TCGPlayer
Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Printings

The Erebos, God of the Dead Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2013-09-27 and 2019-12-02. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12013-09-27TherosTHS 852003NormalBlackPeter Mohrbacher
22019-12-02Secret Lair DropSLD 742015NormalBlackJason A. Engle

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Erebos, God of the Dead has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Erebos, God of the Dead card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2013-09-15 Hybrid mana symbols, monocolored hybrid mana symbols, and Phyrexian mana symbols do count toward your devotion to their color(s).
2013-09-15 If an activated ability or triggered ability has an effect that depends on your devotion to a color, you count the number of mana symbols of that color among the mana costs of permanents you control as the ability resolves. The permanent with that ability will be counted if it's still on the battlefield at that time.
2013-09-15 Mana symbols in the text boxes of permanents you control don't count toward your devotion to any color.
2013-09-15 Numeric mana symbols (, , and so on) in mana costs of permanents you control don't count toward your devotion to any color.
2020-01-24 As a God enters the battlefield, your devotion to its color will determine whether any replacement effects that affect creatures entering the battlefield apply to that God. Because replacement effects are considered before the God is on the battlefield, the mana symbols in its mana cost won't be counted when determining this.
2020-01-24 Counters put on a God remain on it while it's not a creature, even if they have no effect.
2020-01-24 If a God is attacking or blocking and it stops being a creature, it will be removed from combat. It won't rejoin combat if it resumes being a creature later during that combat.
2020-01-24 If a God stops being a creature, it loses the type creature and the creature type God. It continues to be a legendary enchantment.
2020-01-24 If an effect causes a God to lose all abilities, its ability that causes it to stop being a creature still applies if appropriate.
2020-01-24 The abilities of Gods function as long as they're on the battlefield, regardless of whether they're creatures.
2020-01-24 The type-changing ability that can make a God not be a creature functions only on the battlefield. It's always a creature card in other zones, regardless of your devotion to its color. It's always a creature spell while it's on the stack.
2020-01-24 When a God enters the battlefield, your devotion to its color (including the mana symbols in the mana cost of the God itself) will determine if a creature entered the battlefield or not for abilities that trigger whenever a creature enters the battlefield.