Touch of Darkness
Instant
One or more target creatures become black until end of turn.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Legends
- Price
- $10.13
- EDHREC rank
- #17752
Touch of Darkness turns any targeted ability into a kill shot — point it at a creature, that creature dies, no questions asked. The real ceiling is Venerated Rotpriest, where every targeting trigger becomes a poison counter, but the floor is still a one-mana enchantment that blanket-converts all targeting into lethal damage under Horobi, Death's Wail.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Horobi, Death's Wail
Horobi, Death's Wail already kills creatures whenever they're targeted, and Touch of Darkness is one of the most consistent ways to trigger that engine at instant speed for a single black mana — 40% of Horobi decks run it because it's essentially a redundant copy of the commander's own text.
King of the Oathbreakers
King of the Oathbreakers cares about Rogues and saboteur-style pressure, and Touch of Darkness serves as a cheap removal enabler that fits the black-heavy pip structure — roughly 36% of builds include it to clear blockers before combat without spending a full removal slot.
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 |
Touch of Darkness is Commander's card almost exclusively — the effect is narrow enough that its power scales directly with how many targeting abilities your deck generates, and multiplayer tables are the right environment for that payoff. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but sees no meaningful play; the effect doesn't map onto those formats' game plans, and the Horobi interaction requires a four-mana legendary on the battlefield to matter. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander format where Touch of Darkness could slot into a Horobi or poison-themed signature spell package, but the card pool is narrow enough that those decks rarely get built competitively.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Venerated RotpriestStorm HerdTouch of Darkness
Each opponent loses the game
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
There isn't a card that does exactly what Touch of Darkness does at a lower price point, because the effect is genuinely unique — but if the goal is enabling Horobi triggers on the cheap, Prickly Boggart and other cheap targeted-ability spells fill similar roles in the engine. If the goal is straight removal conversion rather than the Horobi engine specifically, something like Tainted Strike covers a different angle at under a dollar, though it requires combat damage rather than targeting.
Price Context
Current price
$10.13 mid tier
At $10.13, Touch of Darkness sits in mid-tier pricing for what is, by oracle text, a one-mana enchantment with a very narrow application — that price is driven almost entirely by demand from Horobi builds and the card's relative scarcity. It holds value as long as Horobi remains a popular Commander choice, but there's no reprint pressure pushing it down and no broad cross-format demand pushing it up.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.