Tempting Contract
Artifact
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent may create a Treasure token. For each opponent who does, you create a Treasure token.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander 2021
- Price
- $9.57
- EDHREC rank
- #3467
Tempting Contract lands and immediately offers every opponent a deal — take a Treasure, and you get one too — turning a four-mana artifact into a political engine that generates mana while keeping threat assessment pointed elsewhere. In a multiplayer game where three opponents each bite, you're looking at three Treasures per turn cycle; Vazi, Keen Negotiator turns every one of those accepted bribes into additional counters and value, making the card broken in the right shell.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Vazi, Keen Negotiator
Vazi, Keen Negotiator's ability triggers whenever opponents take you up on a deal, and Tempting Contract puts a repeating offer on the table every single turn — the two cards form a feedback loop where accepted bribes generate Treasures, Treasures fuel Vazi's activations, and the whole engine compounds fast.
Gluntch, the Bestower
Gluntch, the Bestower is built around handing opponents gifts to extract value, and Tempting Contract plugs directly into that gameplan by adding a second repeating gift trigger each turn cycle that also floods your board with Treasures.
Breena, the Demagogue
Breena, the Demagogue rewards you whenever opponents deal damage to each other, and Tempting Contract greases those political wheels by giving opponents a mana incentive to stay active — more deals accepted means more Treasures, more Breena triggers, and a faster clock.
Jolene, the Plunder Queen
Jolene, the Plunder Queen converts Treasures into +1/+1 counters on herself and makes a Treasure whenever an opponent attacks someone else, so Tempting Contract's steady stream of Treasures feeds her growth while the political pressure the card creates keeps opponents swinging sideways.
Shadrix Silverquill
Shadrix Silverquill trades resources with opponents at the end of combat, and Tempting Contract extends that philosophy to the upkeep — the card keeps the table engaged in deal-making, which is exactly the low-hostility environment where Shadrix wants to operate.
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 |
Tempting Contract is a Commander card through and through — the multiplayer politics it generates are irrelevant in a two-player game, and the payoff scales directly with the number of opponents at the table. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but sees no play; a four-mana artifact that requires opponents to cooperate is nowhere near the power threshold those formats demand. Oathbreaker offers the closest comparable experience to Commander, and the card functions there for the same reasons. For any 60-card format, the conversation is moot — Tempting Contract simply isn't legal in Modern, Pioneer, Standard, or Pauper, and wouldn't be a serious consideration even if it were.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
If Tempting Contract is out of budget, Revel in Riches and Smothering Tithe both generate Treasures at a lower price point, though neither offers the political opt-in mechanic that makes the Contract uniquely sticky at the table. Skycloud Egg and its cycle exist for pure Treasure production, but the closest spiritual substitute is probably Gilded Lotus — it skips the politics entirely and just gives you the mana, trading the multiplayer leverage for raw reliability.
Price Context
Current price
$9.57 mid tier
At $9.57, Tempting Contract sits in the mid tier — expensive enough to feel like a deliberate inclusion, cheap enough that it belongs in any serious political or Treasure-themed build without breaking the budget. It's a niche card with a narrow home, so price stability depends on Commander demand staying consistent; outside of dedicated political decks, there's limited pressure pushing it higher.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.