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Chain of Smog

Sorcery

Target player discards two cards. That player may copy this spell and may choose a new target for that copy.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{1}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Onslaught
Price
$10.10
EDHREC rank
#3107
Buy on TCGplayer
Chain of Smog card art
Chain of Smog is a two-mana sorcery that would be bulk filler in any other context — but the clause letting an opponent copy it to make you discard again is the entire point. With Professor Onyx on the battlefield, each copy triggers a magecraft drain, turning a cooperative loop into a kill; with Tinybones, Trinket Thief, every forced discard converts directly into cards and life loss.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Tinybones, Trinket Thief

Tinybones, Trinket Thief

30.0% of decks · synergy 0.26

Tinybones, Trinket Thief is the natural home: Chain of Smog creates a repeating discard loop that triggers Tinybones on every resolution, draining opponents while drawing cards and threatening the activated-ability kill once everyone's hand is empty.

02
Toshiro Umezawa

Toshiro Umezawa

30.2% of decks · synergy 0.26

Toshiro Umezawa recasts instants from the graveyard whenever a creature dies, so Chain of Smog slots in as a cheap spell that fills the yard early and pressures hands while Toshiro sets up a creature-kill engine.

03
Gwenom, Remorseless

Gwenom, Remorseless

26.1% of decks · synergy 0.22

Gwenom, Remorseless cares about opponents losing life and discarding, making Chain of Smog a cheap engine piece that fuels both halves of her ability and accelerates her toward overwhelming card advantage.

04

Tergrid, God of Fright

18.9% of decks · synergy 0.15

Tergrid, God of Fright converts every discard and sacrifice into stolen permanents, so Chain of Smog becomes a hand-destruction loop that hands Tergrid a steady stream of permanents pulled from opponents' graveyards.

05
Dina, Soul Steeper

Dina, Soul Steeper

16.2% of decks · synergy 0.14

Dina, Soul Steeper drains life whenever you gain life, and Chain of Smog pairs with her by feeding discard synergies and slotting into the Professor Onyx combo line that Dina decks also commonly run.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Chain of Smog is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, and that's essentially the full picture — it's not legal in Modern, Pioneer, Standard, or Pauper. Commander is by far its primary habitat, where the Professor Onyx infinite-drain combo is well-known enough that Chain of Smog has genuine demand. In Legacy and Vintage the card sees essentially no play; the discard effect is too slow and the combo too easy to disrupt in those formats. Oathbreaker is the one fringe exception, where the combo can close games faster given the lower life totals and the signature-spell structure.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

There's no clean budget replacement for Chain of Smog because the combo with Professor Onyx depends specifically on its copy-to-opponent clause — no other card replicates that loop. If the goal is simply cheap hand disruption, Duress and Hymn to Tourach fill that role for pennies, but they don't enable the infinite line and shouldn't be treated as substitutes in combo-oriented builds.

Price Context

Current price

$10.10 mid tier

At $10.10, Chain of Smog sits in the mid tier — meaningful enough to feel in a budget, but justified if you're actually running the Professor Onyx combo. The price is driven almost entirely by combo demand, so if that line isn't in your deck, the card has no business being in your cart.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.