Cry of Contrition
Sorcery
Target player discards a card.
Haunt (When this spell card is put into a graveyard after resolving, exile it haunting target creature.)
When the creature this card haunts dies, target player discards a card.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Guildpact
- Price
- $0.13
- EDHREC rank
- #23164
Cry of Contrition makes an opponent discard a card for one black mana, and if you have threshold, it does it twice — two cards for one mana is a real rate. Outside of dedicated discard or graveyard strategies, though, it's too conditional to earn a slot.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Cry of Contrition is a fringe inclusion in dedicated discard builds — hitting one player at a table of four is low impact unless you're doing it repeatedly or pairing it with discard payoffs. Pauper is where it sees the most genuine play, slotting into black discard shells that want cheap, scalable hand disruption. In Legacy and Vintage, one mana for one discard is below the bar unless threshold is trivially online, and even then stronger options exist. Cry of Contrition is legal in Modern but sees no real play there — the format has moved past sorcery-speed one-for-ones without immediate board impact.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.13 bulk tier
At $0.13, Cry of Contrition is deep bulk — you're not paying for power, you're paying for the effect's niche applicability. It won't appreciate, but it also costs nothing to pick up a copy if your deck actually wants it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.