Dark Intimations
Sorcery
Each opponent sacrifices a creature or planeswalker of their choice, then discards a card. You return a creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard to your hand, then draw a card.
When you cast a Bolas planeswalker spell, exile this card from your graveyard. That planeswalker enters with an additional loyalty counter on it.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BRU
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Aether Revolt
- Price
- $0.20
- EDHREC rank
- #14109
Dark Intimations forces each opponent to sacrifice a creature or planeswalker and discard a card, then you draw — that's immediate, meaningful disruption for five mana across three colors. The real payoff is the clause that recurs it free to your hand when you cast a Nicol Bolas planeswalker, making it a two-for-one engine rather than a one-shot spell.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager is the engine Dark Intimations was designed for — flip him into Nicol Bolas, the Arisen and the spell returns to your hand automatically, setting up a loop of sacrifice-and-discard pressure every time you tick up a Bolas planeswalker.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Dark Intimations is a Commander card through and through — the five-mana sorcery rate is too slow for competitive Legacy or Modern, where the game is often decided before it resolves. In Pioneer it technically exists but has no Nicol Bolas planeswalker synergy to exploit and no home in any established archetype. Commander is where it earns its slot: the political weight of forcing three separate sacrifice-and-discard decisions in one cast is strong, and in a Nicol Bolas, the Ravager deck the free recursion clause turns a good five-drop into a repeatable engine that snowballs as the game goes long.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.20 bulk tier
At $0.20, Dark Intimations is deep bulk — the price of a card that sees negligible play outside one narrow Commander home. It won't climb without a new Nicol Bolas printing, so grab a copy for your Bolas deck and don't expect it to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.