Axis of Mortality
Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.
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What it does
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may have two target players exchange life totals.
Combos with Axis of Mortality
The lines this card is part of, what it needs alongside it, and what the cards do together. An infinite result is the one that moves a deck's bracket.
- Lich Infinite
- Near-infinite card draw
- Near-infinite draw triggers
- Target opponent loses the game
- Evra, Halcyon Witness Humble Phyrexian Unlife Infinite
- Infinite lifeloss for target opponent
- Target opponent loses the game
- Evra, Halcyon Witness Humble Platinum Angel Infinite
- Infinite lifeloss for target opponent
- Target opponent loses the game
- Evra, Halcyon Witness Humble Gideon of the Trials Infinite
- Infinite lifeloss for target opponent
- Target opponent loses the game
- Form of the Dragon
- Target player loses the game on each of your turns
- Target opponent loses the game
- Phyrexian Unlife Blood Celebrant
- Target player loses the game on each of your turns
- Platinum Angel Blood Celebrant
- Target player loses the game on each of your turns
- Soul Echo Blood Celebrant
- Target player loses the game on each of your turns
Showing the 8 shortest and most explosive. This card appears in more than these. Follow any of them through to Commander Spellbook to browse the rest.
Combo data from Commander Spellbook, the community-maintained database of Magic combos. Mirrored nightly.
Rulings
4 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.
- 2017-09-29
If a player can’t gain life, that player can’t exchange life totals with a player with a higher life total. If a player can’t lose life, that player can’t exchange life totals with a player with a lower life total. In either of these cases, neither player’s life total will change.
- 2017-09-29
If one of the targeted players is an illegal target when the triggered ability of Axis of Mortality tries to resolve, the exchange won’t happen. Neither player’s life total will change.
- 2017-09-29
When the life totals are exchanged, each player gains or loses the amount of life necessary to equal the other player’s previous life total. For example, if player A has 5 life and player B has 3 life before the exchange, player A will lose 2 life and player B will gain 2 life. Replacement effects may modify these gains and losses, and triggered abilities may trigger on them.
- 2017-09-29
In a Two-Headed Giant game, each player is considered to have the same life total as their team. If the two targeted players are on different teams, those players gain or lose the appropriate amount of life so that the teams end up exchanging life totals. If the two targeted players are teammates, they can’t exchange life totals.
Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.
In the 99
Every deck whose current list includes Axis of Mortality, whatever its commander.
Most played under
| Commander | Decks | Games | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Master of Keys | 1 | 0 | — |
Colors it shows up in
- Esper 1 deck
Every version of Axis of Mortality
2 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly. A printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall publishes none for some of them.

Ixalan
- Normal
- $1.79
- Foil
- $2.57

Promo
Ixalan Promos
- Foil
- $6.63
Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Axis of Mortality. It runs a name search across every version, which covers the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.
Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only. No individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.