Gonti's Machinations
Enchantment
Whenever you lose life for the first time each turn, you get 
. (You get an energy counter. Damage causes loss of life.)
Pay , Sacrifice this enchantment: Each opponent loses 3 life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Aether Revolt
- Price
- $0.25
- EDHREC rank
- #15166
Gonti's Machinations gives you a repeatable energy drip and a one-time 3-life drain stapled to a zero-mana enchantment — the floor is real card advantage in energy shells, and the ceiling is a meaningful life-swing in aggressive black strategies. The catch is that outside dedicated energy synergies, the payoff is too narrow to justify a slot.
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 |
Gonti's Machinations is a Commander card first and almost exclusively — the energy payoff and life drain are too slow and low-impact for the tempo demands of Legacy, Vintage, or competitive Modern and Pioneer, where it sees essentially zero play. In Commander, it earns its slot only in decks built around energy accumulation, where every drip of per upkeep compounds into real fuel; outside that context, a zero-mana enchantment that drains for 3 once is not enough to make the cut in a 99-card deck.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.25 bulk tier
At $0.25, Gonti's Machinations is deep bulk — you're not paying for scarcity, you're paying for cardboard. It holds that floor comfortably as a niche energy enabler, but don't expect movement unless an energy commander breaks into widespread Commander popularity.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.