Polluted Cistern // Dim Oubliette
Enchantment — Room // Enchantment — Room
Whenever one or more cards are put into your graveyard from your library, each opponent loses 1 life for each card type among those cards.
(You may cast either half. That door unlocks on the battlefield. As a sorcery, you may pay the mana cost of a locked door to unlock it.)
- CMC
- 7
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander
- Price
- $0.42
- EDHREC rank
- #6345
Polluted Cistern // Dim Oubliette puts a creature into a void that nobody can interact with until you choose to end it — that's a repeatable political tool and a hard answer to commanders stapled onto a mana rock. Winter, Cynical Opportunist is the obvious home, but any black deck that wants both ramp and a taxing lock piece gets real value here.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Winter, Cynical Opportunist
Winter, Cynical Opportunist triggers off opponents paying extra costs, and Polluted Cistern // Dim Oubliette creates exactly that pressure — every activation and every attempt to recover the exiled creature feeds the engine. It shows up in over 78% of Winter decks for good reason.
Victor, Valgavoth's Seneschal
Victor, Valgavoth's Seneschal rewards you for making opponents do things on your terms, and Polluted Cistern // Dim Oubliette supplies a recurring threat that forces opponents to either pay up or lose their key piece. The mana rock half also supports Victor's higher curve.
The Master of Keys
The Master of Keys wants ways to lock down specific threats and keep the board controlled while you assemble your plan, and Polluted Cistern // Dim Oubliette fits as both disruption and ramp. The Dim Oubliette side handles a problem permanent while the Cistern keeps your mana development on track.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Polluted Cistern // Dim Oubliette does its best work — the format's slower pace gives you time to exploit the Dim Oubliette lock, and the political texture of multiplayer means holding a creature hostage has real leverage. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but the floor is too low to compete; a tapped mana rock with a conditional removal effect doesn't cut it in formats where turn-one Lotus is the baseline. Oathbreaker is the one other format worth considering, since the smaller game size and commander-centric gameplay mirrors the same conditions that make the card shine in EDH.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.42 bulk tier
At $0.42, Polluted Cistern // Dim Oubliette is firmly bulk — easy to pick up and easy to justify in any black deck that can use it. Bulk dual-faced cards with a narrow home rarely climb unless the commander they're tied to spikes in popularity, so don't expect price movement; just grab it if you're building.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Winter, Cynical Opportunist
- Victor, Valgavoth's Seneschal
- The Master of Keys
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.