NecropotenceNecropotence | Art by Mark Tedin

NecropotenceNecropotence is among the best cards in cEDH. An absolute titan of card advantage, often providing more cards — and for less mana — than Ad NauseamAd Nauseam. Even so, the restrictions that come with a resolved Necropotence can trip up players who aren't used to its play patterns. So, for folks starting out in cEDH, how can Necropotence be played to the fullest, and what makes this card just so broken? Let's find out.

What NecropotenceNecropotence Does

For , Necropotence is an enchantment with three key effects. First, you skip your draw step. Second, the triggered ability: "Whenever you discard a card, exile that card from your graveyard." Third, the activated ability: "Pay 1 life: Exile the top card of your library face down. Put that card into your hand at the beginning of your next end step."

Even on its surface, Necropotence is a card that fundamentally changes the structure of the game going forward. So long as it is in play, you can trade one card for one life — a nearly unbeatable rate in cEDH. However, the two other effects on Necropotence can't be ignored. Assuming you don't win the turn Necropotence resolves, you'll be skipping your draw steps going forward. Similarly, you have to be careful with any graveyard shenanigans going forward, as the exile trigger can quickly burn up Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach fodder and ReanimateReanimate targets alike.

Last but certainly not least, the cards you get off of Necropotence activations only last in your hand for the briefest of moments. Sure, you can — and frequently will — pick up ten, fifteen, or even thirty cards, but without support, that mass card advantage is effectively mass card selection: pick your seven in the end step, then move to cleanup where you'll discard the rest. Now, if those thirty or so cards you grab were all instants, then that would certainly change things...which brings us to our first point.

Maximizing a Single Turn

Aside from the prevalence of Rhystic StudyRhystic Study and its many triggers, perhaps no card in cEDH is more singularly responsible for the prevalence of flash enablers — Borne Upon a WindBorne Upon a Wind, Valley FloodcallerValley Floodcaller, Emergence ZoneEmergence Zone, etc. — than NecropotenceNecropotence. For just a split moment — one end step — Necropotence promises access to as many cards as you have life points.

Resolving one of these effects shortly after grabbing all your Necropotence triggers is a pretty handy way to win the game, and fortunately enough they are all pretty absurdly cheap, averaging around two mana (and being castable - or activatable - at instant speed).

Additionally, besides true flash enablers, there's one more spell worth talking about: Final FortuneFinal Fortune. For , this instant grants you one more turn after this one, though you lose at the end of that turn. While this will still make you choose some key cards from among the many Necropotence activations, it's an instant that can provide a game-winning amount of resources by giving you an additional turn's untap step, allowing you to skip past what may otherwise be a lethal turn cycle.

All in all, between flash enablers and Final Fortune, Necropotence has a pretty wide array of cards across colors that can maximize a single turn (or back-to-back turns).

Understanding the Cleanup Step

Running flash enablers and the like is a pretty clear synergy for Necropotence — and an all-around default for cEDH these days. Figuring out when to cast them, however, is another — particularly with Necropotence out.

In your average cleanup step, players don't receive priority. It's why players can't activate abilities or cast spells while folks are discarding to hand size or after damage has worn off. Necropotence complicates this, however, as it places triggered abilities to be placed onto the stack as a result of its controller discarding to hand size. As such, there is a round of priority immediately after discarding to hand size. (If an ability triggers during the cleanup step, there is another round of priority followed by another cleanup step.) This matters for two key reasons.

First, the discard trigger itself. Since Necropotence isn't a replacement effect, it means that there is a brief window where you can use cards discarded in the cleanup step as targets for a ReanimateReanimate, to escape off of Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach, or anything else like that, provided you're able to do so at instant speed. You'll just be responding before the exile triggers resolve.

Second, SilenceSilence. If you pick up a bunch of cards in your end step, then an opponent casts Silence during that same step (or any other similar effect), that effect will wear off during the cleanup step. So, if you have instant-speed spells that turn, you can cast them during the cleanup step even if you were Silenced earlier in the turn. This applies to your own Silence effects and the like too, however. If you cast a Silence in your end step, then need to move to cleanup for one reason or another, you'll be out of protection.

The Value Necropotence

Finally, it's important to always remember that just because Necropotence can pick up thirty-plus cards at once doesn't mean you always should pick up that many cards. At the same time, a resolved Necropotence will put a target on your head until you're out of the game, so the most frequent, non-turbo use case for Necropotence is often a two-turn wind-up.

On the turn Necropotence resolves, aim to dig reasonably deep in search of the setup pieces that will enable a full turn's worth of mana to launch you forward. From past experience in essentially all non-turbo decks, that has usually meant around ten activations on the resolution turn. Free mana, any sort of tutor for a flash enabler, and interaction are the immediate priorities. While it may be tempting to push for a win immediately, passing that turn and untapping with a few extra lands can often be the make-or-break for actually winning once you have all those cards in hand.

Wrap Up

Even if you've never played with or against NecropotenceNecropotence, it should be immediately clear that this card is among the most powerful cards across all of cEDH. What's less clear from first glance, however, is exactly how to maximize all the resources it gives you. Good luck in your games, and here's to hoping you find exactly what you need with your Necropotence activations.