Curse of the Bloody Tome
Enchantment — Aura Curse
Enchant player
At the beginning of enchanted player's upkeep, that player mills two cards.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Wizards Play Network 2011
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #12539
Curse of the Bloody Tome mills an opponent for two cards at the start of every one of their upkeeps — for two mana, that's a recurring mill clock that requires zero additional investment. In a Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor deck, it's also a free trigger factory, making it one of the most efficient curse slots in that archetype.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor
Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor bounces curses from dead opponents back to your hand and lets you reattach them for free, so Curse of the Bloody Tome generates both a persistent mill threat and a repeatable Lynde trigger engine whenever a cursed player leaves the game.
Bruvac the Grandiloquent
Bruvac the Grandiloquent doubles every mill trigger, turning Curse of the Bloody Tome's two-card upkeep drain into four — stack multiple copies across different opponents and the library erosion adds up fast without spending additional mana.
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 the Bloody Tome is a budget staple for mill and curse-tribal strategies, where its repeated upkeep trigger compounds across a long game and synergizes with commanders who care about enchantments on opponents. In Pauper, it's a legitimate common-legal mill piece for dedicated graveyard or mill builds, though the single-target, one-trigger-per-turn cadence makes it slower than aggressive alternatives. Legacy and Vintage have far more efficient mill options, so Curse of the Bloody Tome doesn't see competitive play there. Oathbreaker mirrors the Commander context — useful in the right shell, ignorable everywhere else.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Curse of the Bloody Tome is a bulk common that typically sits well under a dollar, which makes it an easy inclusion for budget mill and curse builds. Check your local game store's bulk bin before buying a single copy online — you'll likely find it for pennies.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Lynde, Cheerful Tormentor
- Bruvac the Grandiloquent
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.