Pact of the Serpent

Pact of the Serpent card image

Pact of the Serpent: Sorcery, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander. Choose a creature type. Printings, prices, and format legality on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{1}{B}{B}
Mana value
3
Type
Sorcery
Colour identity
Black (B)
Rarity
Rare
Set
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (LCC)
Released
2023-11-17
Collector number
206
Artist
Donato Giancola
Commander rank
2,192 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)

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About Pact of the Serpent

Pact of the Serpent is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare black sorcery from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (LCC), a Commander product released in November 2023. It is collector number 206 in that set, with art by Donato Giancola. It costs {1}{B}{B} (one generic and two black mana) to cast, for a mana value of 3. Its colour identity is black. It is legal in Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander and Oathbreaker. It has been printed in 2 sets, from Kaldheim Commander (2021) to The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (2023). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $1.80 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-12).

Card text

Choose a creature type. Target player draws X cards and loses X life, where X is the number of creatures they control of the chosen type.

"Our quarrels behind us. Our foes before us. Death or triumph for us all!"

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $1.80 (as of 2026-11-12).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of Pact of the Serpent by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal

Other printings of Pact of the Serpent

Pact of the Serpent has been printed in 2 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

PrintingRarityYear
Kaldheim Commander (KHC) #9Rare2021

Official rulings

Three official rulings apply to Pact of the Serpent, newest first.

  • You choose the target player as you cast Pact of the Serpent, but you don't choose the creature type until the spell resolves.
  • You must choose an existing creature type, such as Squirrel or Knight. You can't choose card types (e.g., artifact) or supertypes (e.g., snow).
  • The value of X is based on the number of creatures the player controls of the chosen type as Pact of the Serpent resolves.

Similar cards

Other sorcery cards with a black colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

In these precons

Pact of the Serpent is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.

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