Culling the Weak is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature. Add.
Complete guide
Culling the Weak is a classic black ritual that turns a small creature into a massive influx of mana. While it offers more power than its counterparts, it requires a permanent sacrifice to fuel your dark ambitions. Understanding the timing of its costs is the key to mastering this powerful spell.
Sacrifice as a Cost
The most important aspect of Culling the Weak is that sacrificing a creature is an additional cost. Unlike effects that happen when a spell resolves, you must choose and sacrifice exactly one creature while you are in the process of casting the spell. You cannot cast it without a creature, and you cannot sacrifice extra creatures to get more mana.
Resolution and Response
Because the sacrifice happens as a cost, the creature is gone before anyone can respond. Opponents cannot use removal spells to destroy your creature in an attempt to stop you from casting Culling the Weak. Once the spell is on the stack and costs are paid, it waits to resolve like any other instant. When it resolves, it adds four black mana to your mana pool.
When to Cast It
Culling the Weak is best used in combo decks or aggressive strategies where you have expendable creatures like tokens. Since it provides a net gain of three mana (minus the single black spent to cast it), it is perfect for jumping ahead on the mana curve to cast high-impact spells much earlier than intended.
Interaction examples
Dark RitualIf you have a creature on the board, you can cast Dark Ritual to add three black mana, then use one of that mana to cast Culling the Weak. By sacrificing the creature, you end up with six black mana in your pool, demonstrating how these rituals can be chained together for explosive turns.
Vampiric TutorYou can use Culling the Weak to generate the four mana needed to cast a game-ending threat. If you don't have that threat in hand, you can use one of that mana to cast Vampiric Tutor at the end of an opponent's turn or in response to your own ritual, ensuring your library is ready to provide exactly what you need with your new mana surplus.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Culling the Weak
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
You must sacrifice exactly one creature to cast this spell; you cannot cast it without sacrificing a creature, and you cannot sacrifice additional creatures.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Players can only respond once this spell has been cast and all its costs have been paid. No one can try to destroy the creature you sacrificed to prevent you from casting this spell.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Underworld Breach + Culling the Weak + Stitcher's Supplier
- 1Cast Culling the Weak for its escape cost by paying , exling three other cards from your graveyard, and sacrificing Stiticher's Supplier.
- 2Stitcher's Supplier dies, causing you to mill three cards.
- 3Resolve Culling the Weak, adding .
- 4Cast Stitcher's Supplier for its escape cost by paying and exling three other cards from your graveyard.
- 5Stitcher's Supplier enters the battlefield, causing you to mill three cards.
- 6Repeat.
Saw in Half + Culling the Weak + Pinnacle Monk // Mystic Peak
- 1Cast Culling the Weak by paying and sacrificing another creature, adding .
- 2Cast Saw in Half by paying
, destroying Pinnacle Monk and creating two token copies of it with base power equal to half the destroyed creature's power and base toughness equal to half the destroyed creature's toughness, rounding up each time. - 3When the Pinnacle Monk tokens enter the battlefield, they trigger, returning Saw in Half and Culling the Weak from your graveyard to your hand.
- 4Repeat.
Scholar of the Ages + Culling the Weak + Persist
- 1Cast Culling the Weak by paying and sacrificing Scholar of the Ages, adding .
- 2Cast Persist by paying its mana cost, returning Scholar of the Ages from your graveyard to the battlefield.
- 3When Scholar of the Ages enters, it triggers, returning Culling the Weak and Persist from your graveyard to your hand.
- 4Repeat.
Scholar of the Ages + Shallow Grave + Culling the Weak
- 1Cast Culling the Weak by paying and sacrificing Scholar of the Ages, adding .
- 2Cast Shallow Grave by paying its mana cost, returning Scholar of the Ages from your graveyard to the battlefield.
- 3When Scholar of the Ages enters, it triggers, returning Culling the Weak and Shallow Grave from your graveyard to your hand.
- 4Repeat.
Saw in Half + Culling the Weak + Scholar of the Ages
- 1Cast Culling the Weak by paying and sacrificing another creature, adding .
- 2Cast Saw in Half by paying , destroying Scholar of the Ages and creating two token copies of it with base power equal to half the destroyed creature's power and base toughness equal to half the destroyed creature's toughness, rounding up each time.
- 3When the Scholar of the Ages tokens enter the battlefield, they trigger, returning Saw in Half and Culling the Weak from your graveyard to your hand, as well as up to two additional instants or sorceries.
- 4Repeat.
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist + Persist + Archaeomancer + Culling the Weak
- 1Cast Culling the Weak by paying and sacrificing Archaeomancer, adding .
- 2Cast Persist by paying
, returning Archaeomancer from your graveyard to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter on it. - 3Archaeomancer enters the battlefield, triggering itself and Inalla.
- 4Resolve the Archaeomancer trigger, returning Culling the Weak from your graveyard to your hand.
- 5Resolve the Inalla trigger, causing you to pay to create a token copy of Archaeomancer with haste.
- 6The token Archaeomancer enters the battlefield, returning Persist from your graveyard to your hand.
- 7Repeat.
- 8Once you have infinite Archaeomancer tokens, if Inalla is on the battlefield, you may activate Inalla's ability infinite times to cause infinite lifeloss for opponents.
Saw in Half + Culling the Weak + Archaeomancer
- 1Cast Culling the Weak by paying and sacrificing another creature, adding .
- 2Cast Saw in Half by paying , destroying Archaeomancer and creating two token copies of it with base power equal to half the destroyed creature's power and base toughness equal to half the destroyed creature's toughness, rounding up each time.
- 3When the Archaeomancer tokens enter the battlefield, they trigger, returning Saw in Half and Culling the Weak from your graveyard to your hand.
- 4Repeat.
Scholar of the Ages + Corpse Dance + Culling the Weak
- 1Cast Culling the Weak by paying and sacrificing Scholar of the Ages, adding .
- 2Cast Corpse Dance by paying , returning Scholar of the Ages from your graveyard to the battlefield.
- 3When Scholar of the Ages enters the battlefield, it triggers, returning Culling the Weak and Corpse Dance to your hand from your graveyard.
- 4Repeat.
Legal formats
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