With Lorwyn Eclipsed preview season in full swing, the eyes of the MTG player base are very much fixed on the future right now. It’s hard to blame them, really, with all the wild new combos and synergies that the set looks to be offering. In a game as old as Magic, however, it pays to keep one eye on the past as well, lest some true treasures pass you by. Breathstealer’s Crypt, for example, is a gem from the depths of the MTG Reserved List, which remains criminally underplayed despite its unique, wide-ranging applications.
Breathstealer’s Crypt MTG
Breathstealer’s Crypt has a steep hill to climb right out of the gate as a four-mana MTG enchantment, but fortunately, it more than manages that. For starters, forcing everyone to reveal the cards they draw is a massive deal. This lets you stay abreast of everything your opponents have, and adjust your game plan in turn. If an opponent suddenly draws into a combo piece, for example, you’ll know to hold up interaction to prevent it.
This makes the card invaluable in the higher Commander brackets, where games tend to be won or lost off the back of combos. Knowing when someone is about to pop off is great, and the card works the other way, too. If you’re trying to pull off a combo yourself, you can use it to make sure the coast is clear interaction-wise.
This information element is important, but it’s not what makes Breathstealer’s Crypt great. Instead, what really pushes the card over the edge is the punisher effect it applies to creature draws. Each time one is drawn, its owner has to choose between keeping it and losing three life. This is an easy decision early on in a game, but as life totals dwindle, it becomes more and more relevant. Eventually, it can even start denying your opponents fresh creatures altogether.
Wheeling And Dealing
As a general tool in Dimir Combo or Control decks, Breathstealer’s Crypt is a fine pickup. Where it really shines, however, is in decks that can leverage its unique effects. Nekusar, the Mindrazer is probably the best example. This is a deck all about force-feeding your opponents cards, which means it also force-feeds them Crypt triggers. When your opponents have the extra pings from Nekusar and pals to contend with on top of Crypt’s Lightning Bolts, they’re likely to drop most of the bonus creatures they draw, putting you well ahead. With Crypt in play, a single Wheel of Fortune effect can drastically shift the state of the game.
Breathstealer’s Crypt is also excellent in decks that already put pressure on your opponents’ hands via discard. Since it will more than likely force a few discards itself, it’s great redundancy. The extra information is also much more relevant when your opponents only have a couple of cards each to work with. Kefka, Court Mage is probably the best option in this category, but you can also have a lot of fun with Crypt in Nicol Bolas, the Ravager decks.
Another great use case for Breathstealer’s Crypt is to think of it as a simple repeatable damage source. Assuming your opponents draw and keep at least one creature per turn, it’s a reliable extra Lightning Bolt that you don’t have to pay for. This is ideal for Commanders like Sygg, River Cutthroat and Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed, since it essentially turns on their draw triggers single-handedly. Your opponents can deny you draw by discarding their creatures, of course, but you’ll be up a card on the bargain either way.
Grave Consequences
What’s really interesting about Breathstealer’s Crypt is how you can turn its symmetry to your advantage. In decks that want to be discarding creatures anyway, this is essentially a free discard outlet that also has major downsides for your opponents.
In Muldrotha, the Gravetide, for example, your graveyard is a second hand, so you lose nothing by pitching your creatures to avoid damage. Breathstealer’s Crypt is even better in decks like Norman Osborn//Green Goblin and Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist, where discarding creatures actively benefits your game plan. While it lacks the on-demand utility of cards like Psychic Frog, the long-term value potential here more than balances that out.
Despite being excellent in all manner of strategies, Breathstealer’s Crypt remains a very underplayed card in Commander. According to EDHREC, just over 4,000 decks are running it at present. A lot of this is undoubtedly down to the card’s Reserved List status, which heavily limits the number of copies in circulation. The card also suffers from slightly unintuitive wording as well, which really takes a few reads to reveal its true power.
While it’s definitely niche, Breathstealer’s Crypt isn’t actually as cheap as you’d think. Near mint copies of the card’s one-and-only Visions printing will run you around $9 on the low end, with many recent sales closer to the $15 mark. This puts it well outside the ‘budget pickup’ range, but it’s still very affordable for a Reserved List card.
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