GolgariLegendary Creature — Human WarlockBaba Lysaga, Night Witch
Mana value3Rank#8,774
The Commander
, Sacrifice up to three permanents: If there were three or more card types among the sacrificed permanents, each opponent loses 3 life, you gain 3 life, and you draw three cards.
Guide
Gameplan
Baba Lysaga turns your board into card advantage and incremental drain: each turn tap her, sacrifice three permanents covering three different card types (artifact + creature + land, etc.), and draw three while draining each opponent for 3. Build a sacrifice engine that constantly refills fodder—Treasures, tokens, food, clues, and self-recurring lands—so you can activate every turn and grind opponents out. You win by snowballing the card draw into board dominance or chaining the drain into a kill.
Strengths
- Repeatable three-card draw is some of the best card advantage in BG, refueling through any grind
- Built-in lifegain and life loss closes games and stabilizes against aggro
- Activated ability dodges sorcery-speed restrictions and can be used at instant speed in response to removal
- Cheap to cast and recast at 3 mana, so commander tax barely hurts
- Synergizes with the deepest sacrifice/aristocrats package in the format
Weaknesses
- Demands diverse permanent types each turn—if you only have creatures, the ability whiffs
- Hungry for sacrifice fodder; without token/treasure engines she stalls
- Tapping her each turn means she can't also attack or block effectively
- Vulnerable to graveyard hate and to having her tapped/removed before you stabilize
- No evasion or protection of her own, so dedicated removal shuts the engine off
Key Cards
- Smothering Tithe — Generates a steady stream of Treasure artifacts that double as fodder and provide the artifact card type.
- Dryad Arbor — A creature-land gives you two card types in one permanent, making it easy to hit the three-type threshold.
- Lotus Field — Sacrifice-style ramp and land fodder that you can recur to keep feeding Baba's land slot.
- Skullclamp — Turns sacrificed token creatures into extra cards, layering even more advantage onto the drain.
- Korvold, Fae-Cursed King — Another sac payoff that draws on every sacrifice, multiplying Baba's value engine.
- Pitiless Plunderer — Each creature death makes a Treasure, perpetually refilling artifact fodder for the ability.
- Meren of Clan Nel Toth — Recurs the creatures you keep sacrificing, making the fodder supply effectively infinite.
- Mayhem Devil — Turns every sacrifice into incremental damage, adding a second drain axis.
Upgrade Path
Tighten the fodder base so you always have three card types: add cheap Treasure and clue/food generators, creature-lands, and self-recurring lands like Dryad Arbor and Lotus Field. Layer in aristocrats payoffs (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Mayhem Devil) and recursion (Meren, Eternal Witness, Reassembling Skeleton) to make activations free and lethal. Push higher with fast mana (Sol Ring, Jeweled Lotus), tutors (Demonic, Vampiric), and a backup combo such as Pitiless Plunderer plus a free sac outlet for infinite Treasures and drain.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Repeated 3-life drains to each opponent eventually tick the whole table to zero
- ▸Overwhelming card advantage converts into a dominant board and combat kills
- ▸Aristocrats payoffs like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat plus sacrifice loops drain the table
- ▸Treasure/sacrifice combo lines (e.g., with Pitiless Plunderer engines) generate huge value or infinite drain
Archetypes
- Aristocrats — Baba rewards constant sacrifice with drain, draw, and lifegain, the core aristocrats loop.
- Tokens — Token makers provide endless cheap fodder to feed the three-permanent activation every turn.
- Value/Midrange Grind — Repeatable three-card draw plus recursion lets you out-resource the table over a long game.
- Lands/Recursion — Self-returning lands and creature-lands supply the elusive land/multi-type fodder reliably.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BG), by popularity.
