Unscrupulous Contractor
Creature — Human Assassin
When this creature enters, you may sacrifice a creature. When you do, target player draws two cards and loses 2 life.
Plot 
(You may pay and exile this card from your hand. Cast it as a sorcery on a later turn without paying its mana cost. Plot only as a sorcery.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Outlaws of Thunder Junction
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #11398
Unscrupulous Contractor puts a poison counter on any target creature — including your own — on a repeatable, sac-able body that generates immediate value the turn it enters. In Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad builds specifically, that one poison counter is the trigger that starts the cascade, making this card do exactly what the deck needs for two mana.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad cares about creatures with poison counters dying, and Unscrupulous Contractor hands you a precise, instant-speed delivery mechanism that requires no combat step — drop it, ping a target, and let Altaïr's engine do the rest.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Unscrupulous Contractor is legal across every major constructed format, but it belongs in Commander. The effect is too narrow and too slow to find a home in competitive Legacy, Modern, or Pioneer, where a two-mana 1/1 that places a single poison counter won't survive long enough to matter and infect strategies already have faster infrastructure. In Standard and Pioneer it's a novelty without a supporting cast. Commander — specifically Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad or any poison-matters shell — is where Unscrupulous Contractor actually functions as an engine piece rather than a curiosity.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Unscrupulous Contractor is deep bulk — pick it up without a second thought if you're building the deck. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to move meaningfully unless a new poison-matters commander breaks out and pulls the whole archetype up.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.