Underrealm Lich 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
If you would draw a card, instead look at the top three cards of your library, then put one into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. Pay 4 life: This creature gains indestructible until end of turn. Tap it.
Complete guide
Underrealm Lich is a powerhouse for graveyard-based strategies, offering incredible card selection while making you immune to decking out. This Zombie Elf Shaman acts as a permanent replacement for your draws, ensuring your graveyard stays fueled and your hand stays full of answers.
Filtering Your Fate
Underrealm Lich features a powerful static ability that replaces every card draw. Instead of simply taking the top card, you look at the top three, select one, and mill the other two. Because this is a replacement effect and not a triggered ability, it does not use the stack and cannot be responded to once the draw begins. Furthermore, since you are no longer technically drawing cards, you cannot lose the game by being forced to draw from an empty library.
Step-by-Step Resolution
When an effect or your draw step causes you to draw a card, follow these steps: 1. Identify the draw event. 2. Look at the top three cards of your library. If there are fewer than three, look at all of them. 3. Choose one card and put it into your hand. 4. Put the remaining cards into your graveyard. If you are drawing multiple cards, repeat this entire process for each individual card draw.
Resilience at a Price
The Lich is notoriously difficult to remove thanks to its activated ability. By paying 4 life, you grant it indestructible until the end of the turn and tap it. Note that you can activate this even if the creature is already tapped, and it remains a valid way to protect the Lich from board wipes or targeted destruction spells.
Common Pitfalls
Players often forget that Underrealm Lich changes the nature of the draw. Because you are 'putting a card into your hand' rather than drawing it, abilities that trigger whenever a player draws a card will not fire. Conversely, this is excellent for bypassing 'punisher' effects that hurt you for drawing extra cards.
Interaction examples
Solemn SimulacrumWhen Solemn Simulacrum dies, its triggered ability allows you to draw a card. With Underrealm Lich on the battlefield, you instead look at the top three cards of your library, keep one, and graveyard the rest. This effectively triples the value of the death trigger by letting you dig deeper for a specific land or spell.
Roaming ThroneIf Roaming Throne enters the battlefield and you choose 'Zombie' or 'Elf', you might expect it to double the Lich's effects. However, Underrealm Lich features a replacement effect (indicated by 'If... instead') and an activated ability (indicated by a colon). Neither of these are triggered abilities, so Roaming Throne will not cause the Lich to look at more cards or gain indestructible twice.
If your library is empty and you are forced to draw a card, Underrealm Lich's replacement effect kicks in. You look at the top zero cards, put zero into your hand, and put zero into your graveyard. Since you never actually 'draw a card from an empty library,' the state-based action that causes a player to lose the game never occurs.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Underrealm Lich
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If an effect instructs you to draw multiple cards, each draw is performed—and replaced by Underrealm Lich's ability—one at a time. This means that if you're drawing two cards, you'll look at the top three cards of your library, put one into your hand, put the other two into your graveyard, and then repeat the process with the next three cards in your library.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Underrealm Lich's first ability applies even if you have fewer than three cards in your library. If you have no cards in your library, you can't lose the game for trying to draw a card from an empty library.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
You can activate Underrealm Lich's last ability even if it's already tapped. It can't be tapped again, but it still gains indestructible.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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