Curse of Chains
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
At the beginning of each upkeep, tap enchanted creature.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- UW
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Ravnica: Clue Edition
- Price
- $0.18
- EDHREC rank
- #17214
Curse of Chains taps a creature every upkeep and keeps it tapped — that's a hard lock on any creature that doesn't untap through other means, for just two mana. In Hylda of the Icy Crown decks it doubles as a trigger engine, firing every turn without any additional investment.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Hylda of the Icy Crown
Curse of Chains triggers Hylda of the Icy Crown on each opponent's upkeep automatically, converting a single enchantment into a repeating source of tokens, scries, or +1/+1 counters depending on what you pay into.
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, Curse of Chains punches above its mana cost — it neutralizes a commander or problem creature indefinitely while feeding tap-synergy generals like Hylda of the Icy Crown each turn around the table. In Pauper it competes in an efficient removal-dense environment, and the tap-every-upkeep effect is genuinely oppressive against the format's creature-heavy aggro and combo decks. Legacy and Vintage have access to strictly harder removal, so Curse of Chains rarely makes the cut outside of niche enchantment-synergy builds. It's legal in Modern but sees essentially no play there for the same reason — cheaper, cleaner answers crowd it out.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.18 bulk tier
At $0.18, Curse of Chains is deep bulk — you'll find it in any commons bin without effort. Bulk enchantments with niche commander applications rarely climb in price, so there's no urgency to stock up, but at this price picking up a copy costs less than a sleeve.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.