Snake Cult Initiation
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has poisonous 3. (Whenever it deals combat damage to a player, that player gets three poison counters. A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Future Sight
- Price
- $0.45
- EDHREC rank
- #20067
Snake Cult Initiation turns any creature you control into a poison delivery system — one hit and the opponent is on a ten-counter clock regardless of life total. Four mana to enchant plus the requirement that your creature actually connects makes it a win-more card that folds to any answer targeting either the enchantment or the creature.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Snake Cult Initiation is a Commander card — full stop. Legacy, Modern, and Vintage are all legal formats on paper, but four mana for an aura that does nothing until your creature connects is several turns too slow to matter in any of those environments. In Commander, it earns a narrow slot in dedicated infect and poison-counter builds, particularly alongside proliferate payoffs like Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, where the ten-counter threshold becomes a legitimate alternate win condition rather than a curiosity. Outside of those focused strategies it's cut fodder, since generic creature-buff slots are better filled by removal or interaction.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.45 bulk tier
At $0.45, Snake Cult Initiation is firmly bulk — the price reflects its narrow application rather than any barrier to entry. It's unlikely to appreciate unless a pushed poison-matter commander drives renewed Commander demand, so pick it up if the strategy calls for it and don't expect the copy in your binder to be worth more next year.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.