Grim Contest
Instant
Choose target creature you control and target creature an opponent controls. Each of those creatures deals damage equal to its toughness to the other.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BG
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $0.24
- EDHREC rank
- #18867
Grim Contest trades one of your creatures for one of theirs, with the winner determined by toughness — a clean, conditional removal spell that costs two mana and demands nothing beyond a body on your side. It's a strong budget option in any black-green shell that runs high-toughness creatures, and a near-blank in decks that don't.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Grim Contest earns its slot in any Golgari deck built around high-toughness creatures — think Doran, the Siege Tower or Arcades, the Strategist strategies where your creatures routinely outmuscle opposing threats on the relevant stat. Outside of that niche, black-green has cleaner options and the card sees minimal play in the format at large. In Pauper, the common-only restriction makes toughness-matters archetypes more resource-constrained, and Grim Contest is a real consideration there for the same reason. In Legacy and Modern it's outclassed by instant-speed interaction and more efficient removal, so it stays on the shelf.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.24 bulk tier
At $0.24, Grim Contest is deep bulk — you're paying for the cardboard, not any scarcity premium. That price is stable; there's no spike catalyst on the horizon for a narrow sorcery-speed removal spell.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.