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Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Price$0.88 – $8.12
Buy on TCGplayer

Gray Merchant of Asphodel

{3}{B}{B}

Creature — Zombie

LegalRank #240

When this creature enters, each opponent loses X life, where X is your devotion to black. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. (Each {B} in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to black.)

2/4

Why is this card good?

Gary is the premier payoff for mono-black devotion decks, and in Commander his drain scales beautifully across a multiplayer table. Each opponent loses life equal to your black pips, so in a three-opponent game a devotion of 6 swings 18 life out of the table while gaining you 6 — and that's before any blink or recursion shenanigans. He shines in heavily black-pipped decks: think mono-black devotion under commanders like Erebos, Tinybones, or K'rrik. Pair him with reanimation (Reanimate, Animate Dead), flicker (Conjurer's Closet), or simple recursion (Phyrexian Reclamation) to fire the trigger repeatedly — that's how Gary becomes a one-card win condition. He's also fantastic alongside life-loss synergies and aristocrats shells that already want a saturated black board. Skip him in two- or three-color decks where your devotion stays low — a 5-mana 2/4 that drains 2-3 is embarrassing. He needs a dense black mana base to justify the slot, so he's strictly a mono-black (or near-mono) card.

Related cards

Crypt GhastB

Doubles black mana and adds devotion pips to fuel Gary's drain.

Nykthos, Shrine to NyxC

Converts high black devotion into massive mana for mono-black payoffs.

Bontu's Last ReckoningB

Mono-black mass payoff alongside devotion strategies.

Bloodletter of AclazotzB

Doubles the life loss from Gary's drain effect.

ExsanguinateB

Scalable mono-black drain finisher in the same payoff role.

Torment of HailfireB

Big mono-black X drain that closes games like Gary.

Liliana, Dreadhorde GeneralB

High black devotion permanent that fuels Gary's drain.

Cabal CoffersB

Generates huge black mana to support devotion-based payoffs.

Printings (10)

slcSecret Lair Countdown · #7R$8.12Buy
slcSecret Lair Countdown · #34R$76.07Buy
dscDuskmourn: House of Horror Commander · #142U$4.30Buy
scdStarter Commander Decks · #80U$0.88Buy
tsrTime Spiral Remastered · #323S$6.57Buy
thbTheros Beyond Death · #99U$1.22Buy
thbTheros Beyond Death · #355U$7.44Buy
plstThe List · #C14-146C$1.19Buy
Show all 10 printingsShow fewer
c14Commander 2014 · #146C$1.02Buy
thsTheros · #89C$1.31Buy

Played by these commanders

Gisa and Geralf100% of 1
Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath100% of 1
Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls100% of 1

Rulings (6)

  • 2021-03-19

    The amount of life you gain is the total amount of life lost, not simply the value of X.

  • 2020-01-24

    Hybrid mana symbols, monocolored hybrid mana symbols, and Phyrexian mana symbols do count toward your devotion to their color(s).

  • 2020-01-24

    Colorless and generic mana symbols ({C}, {0}, {1}, {2}, {X}, and so on) in mana costs of permanents you control don't count toward your devotion to any color.

  • 2020-01-24

    Mana symbols in the text boxes of permanents you control don't count toward your devotion to any color.

  • 2020-01-24

    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.

  • 2020-01-24

    If you put an Aura on an opponent's permanent, you still control the Aura, and mana symbols in its mana cost count towards your devotion.

Discussion (0)