Card
Nefarious Lich
Mana cost {B}{B}{B}{B}
If damage would be dealt to you, exile that many cards from your graveyard instead. If you can't, you lose the game. If you would gain life, draw that many cards instead. When this enchantment leaves the battlefield, you lose the game.
Part of 12 known combos, 3 of them two-card. 2 official rulings.
- Commander
- Legal
- Printing
- Rare · ODY · #153
- Cheapest printing
- €1.54
- EDHREC salt
- 0.76
- Color identity
- Black
Bracket
- B1 Exhibition — Not in the same deck as its two-card combo partners: Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Queza, Augur of Agonies, Shabraz, the Skyshark
- B2 Core — Not in the same deck as its two-card combo partners: Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Queza, Augur of Agonies, Shabraz, the Skyshark
- B3 Upgraded — Not in the same deck as its early two-card combo partners: Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Queza, Augur of Agonies, Shabraz, the Skyshark
- B4 Optimized — allowed: No restriction beyond the banned list
- B5 cEDH — allowed: No restriction beyond the banned list
Why
- Two-card combo with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Queza, Augur of Agonies, Shabraz, the Skyshark (early with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Queza, Augur of Agonies, Shabraz, the Skyshark)
How Lotus Vault estimates a bracket
Bracket: Lotus Vault analysis, with Commander Spellbook flags
Combos
12 known combos, 3 of them two-card.
- Despotic Scepter + Nefarious Lich + Harmless Offering
Produces: Target opponent loses the game
View on Commander Spellbook - Staff of Compleation + Nefarious Lich + Harmless Offering
Produces: Target opponent loses the game
View on Commander Spellbook - Sheoldred, the Apocalypse + Nefarious Lich
Produces: Infinite card draw, Infinite draw triggers
View on Commander Spellbook
Combos: Commander Spellbook
Rulings
- 2004-10-04 · Wizards of the Coast
This card will not prevent you from losing the game due to zero or less life. - 2004-10-04 · Wizards of the Coast
If you were going to gain life and you also have a replacement that can turn card drawing into life gain on the battlefield, you can gain life by using the Lich to turn the original life gain into card drawing, and then using the other replacement to turn a card draw into life gain. Nefarious Lich will not replace the life gain with a card draw again because it has already acted on this event.
Rulings: Scryfall · Wizards of the Coast