Tainted Pact
Instant
Exile the top card of your library. You may put that card into your hand unless it has the same name as another card exiled this way. Repeat this process until you put a card into your hand or you exile two cards with the same name, whichever comes first.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Odyssey
- Price
- $37.19
- EDHREC rank
- #781
Tainted Pact is a two-mana instant that tutors any card to hand and, with a singleton-only library, exiles everything it touches — which is exactly why the Thassa's Oracle combo turned it into a cEDH staple. The Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept pairing runs it in 90% of lists for a reason: cast Tainted Pact to exile your entire deck, then resolve Thassa's Oracle for an immediate win.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept is the canonical Tainted Pact shell — 90% inclusion rate says it all. Silas Renn's artifact synergies enable fast mana that resolves Tainted Pact early, and the Esper color identity supports Thassa's Oracle as the clean win condition.
Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver
Dargo, the Shipwrecker // Tymna the Weaver plays in the same competitive lane, using Tymna's life-loss draw to keep hands full while setting up the Tainted Pact line. The deck's artifact and creature density supports a redundant combo package without changing the core kill condition.
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero leverages Thrasios's activated ability as a mana sink and card selection engine, making Tainted Pact a second route to the same library-exile win. Both halves of the partnership generate the resources needed to assemble and protect the combo.
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce is another cEDH partner pairing that runs Tainted Pact as its primary library-exile combo piece. The Grixis color identity still reaches Thassa's Oracle, and Malcolm's treasure generation accelerates the mana needed to cast and protect it.
Talion, the Kindly Lord
Talion, the Kindly Lord runs Tainted Pact in a lower-synergy but still meaningful 36% of lists, mostly as a standalone tutor in non-combo builds. When the deck does include Thassa's Oracle, Tainted Pact becomes a live win condition; otherwise it simply finds whatever answer Talion needs.
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 Tainted Pact does its best work — the singleton rule means you almost never hit a duplicate while exiling, which lets you run your library down to nothing and close with Thassa's Oracle. In Legacy and Vintage, the card is legal but rarely played; those formats allow four copies of anything, and the duplicate-hit risk makes it unreliable as a library-clear rather than a selective tutor. Oathbreaker gets the same singleton structure as Commander, so the combo translates cleanly there too. Outside of those formats, Tainted Pact simply isn't legal.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
There is no true budget replacement for Tainted Pact in the Oracle combo — the interaction depends specifically on exiling your whole library, and no cheaper card replicates that. For the tutor function alone, Diabolic Intent and Demonic Tutor serve at lower price points, but they don't set up the library-exile line; if the combo is why you want Tainted Pact, there is no substitute under $5 that does the same job.
Price Context
Current price
$37.19 premium tier
At $37.19, Tainted Pact sits firmly in the premium tier — justifiable if you're building a dedicated cEDH Oracle combo shell, hard to justify otherwise. It's a role-player, not a universal staple, so buy it when you're building the deck rather than speculating on future demand.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Thassa's Oracle
- 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
- Talion, the Kindly Lord
- Laboratory Maniac
- Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
- Approach of the Second Sun
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.