Diabolic Intent
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature.
Search your library for a card, put that card into your hand, then shuffle.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Magic Online Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #265
Diabolic Intent is a two-mana unconditional tutor — the same effect as Demonic Tutor, paid for with a creature sacrifice instead of a black pip. In sacrifice-heavy shells like Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept, the cost is a feature: you're converting a token or a redundant body into exactly the combo piece you need.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
Rograkh enters as a free 0/1, which means Diabolic Intent costs exactly and zero real resources — sacrifice the commander, find your win condition, recast Rograkh from the command zone and do it again.
Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver
Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver runs a dense package of cheap and free creatures to reduce Dargo's cost, and those same bodies make Diabolic Intent trivially cheap to activate while Tymna refills your hand.
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero
Tevesh Szat generates Thrull tokens as part of his normal operation, giving Diabolic Intent a dedicated sacrifice target while Thrasios converts the mana and card advantage into a lock or combo win.
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce builds wide on Pirates and Treasure tokens; Diabolic Intent slots in as a way to cash out one of those incidental bodies into the missing combo piece the moment the opportunity arises.
Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
Every sacrifice for Diabolic Intent draws Korvold, Fae-Cursed King a card and puts a +1/+1 counter on him, so the tutor doubles as a stat boost — the cost and the reward are the same action.
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 |
Commander is where Diabolic Intent lives; the singleton rule makes unconditional tutors worth almost any cost, and sacrifice-based commanders turn the creature payment into a strict upside rather than a real drawback. In Legacy and Vintage, it's legal but irrelevant — those formats have Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, and Imperial Seal, and two mana at sorcery speed with an additional sacrifice cost doesn't clear the bar. Modern and Pioneer legality is a curiosity: black combo shells there rarely want to sacrifice a creature for a sorcery-speed tutor when cheaper, faster options exist. Oathbreaker is the second home worth noting, where the same singleton pressure and sacrifice synergies that make it excellent in Commander apply in full.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Diabolic Intent has historically sat in the $10–$20 range, with reprints pulling it down and demand from cEDH and high-power Commander pushing it back up — check current listings before buying. It's a staple in any black sacrifice deck at competitive or high-power tables, so if you need one, treat it as a long-term pickup rather than a situational include.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
- Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver
- Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero
- Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce
- Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.