Mechanics Overview: Morbid

"In Innistrad, the death of one may be an opportunity for others."

With spooky season right around the corner, I thought I'd take this article to discuss one of my favorite mechanics of all time: Morbid. Morbid is a keyword ability that gives you a bonus effect on a card if the condition is met that a creature died this turn. The mechanic was first introduced in the set Innistrad, but has been featured in a variety of other Magic expansions including Conspiracy, Modern Horizons 1,2, 3, and Commander 2014. It's a mechanic that pairs greatly with ways to kill your opponent's creatures, or sacrifice your own.

What is Morbid?

Morbid as a mechanic, is an ability that checks whether a creature has died this turn. Morbid is found on cards that give you some sort of benefit if a creature has died this turn, ranging anywhere from creatures to spells.

The condition granted by Morbid can only be met if a creature has died this turn, before the spell or ability resolves. Morbid usually acts as an added bonus to spells, encouraging you to find ways to kill your opponents' creatures, or your own.

History of Morbid

Morbid was first introduced in Innistrad, the fall set of 2011. Centering around a gothic horror theme, Innistrad features a swath of horror-inspired cards and creatures, including vampires, zombies, werewolves, and humans desperately trying to survive the night.

With so much of Innistrad being focused on death and rebirth (either as a spirit or vengeful ghoul) it's only natural that many of the block's mechanics focused on death-related abilities. Morbid in particular cares about creatures dying in the turn that you play a card with a Morbid benefit. This means that cards with Morbid benefit greatly from destroying creatures in combat, using removal spells, or sacrificing your own creatures.

For example, in Innistrad Limited, if your opponent is at five life, you can use Disciple of Griselbrand to sacrifice one of your own creatures to deal a lethal Brimstone Volley to your opponent. Other cards in the set, like Altar's Reap, Falkenrath Noble, and Village Cannibals played into this "self-sacrifice" archetype.

Morkrut Banshee is a particular example of a very powerful Innistrad Limited card that benefits greatly from its Morbid effect. Morkrut Banshee was the set's "Flametongue Kavu" - a creature with decent stats that destroys another creature upon entering the battlefield, granting you a large tempo swing. A five-mana 4/4 back in 2011 was nothing to scoff at, but a five-mana 4/4 that also removes your opponent's 4/4 was a game-changer.

Morbid also appeared in the second set of the Innistrad block, Dark Ascension. However, it did not (for thematic reason) make an appearance in the final set of the block, Avacyn Restored, which focused on the angels of Innistrad returning to free the plane from its horrors.

Morbid in Competitive Play

Morbid cards have been featured everywhere from casual and Commander play all the way to the Pro Tour itself. At Pro Tour Dark Ascension, inevitably won by Brian Kibler's Kessig Wolf Run ramp deck, a number of players performed well in the Standard portion of the event with sacrifice-themed decks featuring a handful of Morbid cards.

Here is Naoki Nakada's Rakdos sacrifice-themed zombies deck that finished 6-2 at that event:

Rakdos Zombies | Standard - Pro Tour Dark Ascension | Naoki Nakada

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Dross Hopper
• 3 Falkenrath Aristocrat
• 4 Diregraf Ghoul
• 4 Fume Spitter
• 4 Geralf's Messenger
• 4 Gravecrawler
• 4 Highborn Ghoul
• 4 Skirsdag High Priest

• Instants (10)
• 2 Dismember
• 4 Brimstone Volley
• 4 Tragic Slip

• Lands (22)
• 14 Swamp
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4 Dragonskull Summit

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Distress
• 2 Go for the Throat
• 2 Manabarbs
• 2 Mental Misstep
• 2 Phyrexian Obliterator
• 2 Ratchet Bomb
• 1 Swamp

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This deck's cards can basically be broken down into a few key categories: enablers, payoffs, and fodder. This deck revolves around sacrificing your creatures to gain benefits across multiple cards. A Tragic Slip on its own is pretty measly, but if you sacrifice a creature the Morbid effect gained will basically allow you to kill anything you target with it!

This deck's enablers are in the ways you can sacrifice creatures, primarily Falkenrath Aristocrat, Skirsdag High Priest (which is also a payoff card) and Dross Hopper. Then, you have your fodder, including Fume Spitter, Gravecrawler (which can be bought back multiple times), and Geralf's Messenger. Finally, you have payoffs, which mainly include Skirsdag High Priest and your Morbid spells, Tragic Slip and Brimstone Volley.

I fondly remember playing this deck at my local FNM, and really enjoyed the interaction between multiple cards in this deck, like Falkenrath Aristocrat sacrificing Gravecrawler a bunch of times in one turn, or getting in the last few points of damage with a Morbid Brimstone Volley. A lot of games you just win without doing anything fancy, beating down with Diregraf Ghoul into Highborn Ghoul to put your opponent on the backfoot. It's an expertly designed sacrifice deck that just doubles as a solid aggro deck as well, making use of three different Morbid cards from Innistrad and Dark Ascension.

Post-Innistrad Printings

Morbid has also shown up on a variety of new and reprinted cards post-Innistrad, in sets like Universes Beyond: Doctor Who, Modern Horizons, and Eternal Masters. Three years after Innistrad's release Morbid made a comeback on a few cards in the first Conspiracy set. A set designed for four-player games, Morbid was a fantastic inclusion as a mechanic in this set, since with more turns, the more chances creatures are dying in combat.

Each of the Modern Horizons sets has also featured at least one card with Morbid, featuring art from the plane of Innistrad:

Morbid also made an appearance in the Universes Beyond: Fallout expansion, which released earlier this year:

I actually really appreciate the design of this card - while it's fine to cast for five mana, it's designed in a way to play when your opponent blocks in a manner so a creature dies in combat. You could attack with a random token in hopes of it dying in combat, but unbeknownst to your opponent you have a Grim Reaper's Sprint waiting in the wings to push through some additional points of damage.

With Innistrad Remastered hitting stores in January of 2025 we will definitely be seeing the return of Morbid in the near future. I'd be shocked if Morbid returned as a mechanic in Duskmourn: House of Horror, but with various mechanics returning as one-offs in modern sets, like flashback and investigate, we quite possibly could get a Morbid card in Magic's next expansion.

Until then, I'll be patiently awaiting Morbid's frightful return in Innistrad Remastered come the new year.

Thanks for reading!

-Roman Fusco