Xander's Pact
Sorcery
Casualty 2 (As you cast this spell, you may sacrifice a creature with power 2 or greater. When you do, copy this spell.)
Each opponent exiles the top card of their library. You may cast spells from among those cards this turn. If you cast a spell this way, pay life equal to that spell's mana value rather than pay its mana cost.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- New Capenna Commander
- Price
- $0.20
- EDHREC rank
- #15868
Xander's Pact drops up to four opponents' life totals by 10 each — a potential 40-point swing — for the price of letting each of them draw three cards. That symmetry hurts in most shells, but in decks built to punish card draw or exploit the life loss directly, Xander's Pact pulls well above its weight.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Tasha, the Witch Queen
Tasha, the Witch Queen turns every spell an opponent casts into a free creature token, so the three cards each opponent draws off Xander's Pact immediately become three triggers — Tasha converts the downside into an advantage engine rather than a liability.
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 Xander's Pact lives. The life-loss scales with the number of opponents present, making a four-player table the ideal condition — three opponents absorbing 10 life each is nearly game-ending pressure. Outside Commander, Xander's Pact is legal in Legacy and Vintage but sees no competitive play there; the card draw gifted to a single opponent at a high mana cost is a poor trade in one-on-one formats where card advantage is decisive. Oathbreaker offers another multiplayer home, though the smaller starting life totals partially reduce its closing power.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.20 bulk tier
At $0.20, Xander's Pact sits firmly in bulk territory — easy to acquire and low-risk to slot in. Bulk rares with narrow homes tend to stay cheap, so there's no urgency to stock up, but at this price the question is just whether your deck wants it, not whether it's affordable.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.