Price$25.03 – $35.02
Buy on TCGplayerGrave Pact
Enchantment
Legal Salt 1.82Rank #566
Whenever a creature you control dies, each other player sacrifices a creature of their choice.
Why is this card good?
Grave Pact is a cornerstone of aristocrats and sacrifice strategies, turning every creature death into a one-sided board wipe against your opponents. Pair it with a free sacrifice outlet (Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Ashnod's Altar) and a token engine, and you can clear entire battlefields while your own board stays intact.
Who wants it: Black sac-focused commanders like Meren, Korvold, Teysa Karlov (who can even double the triggers), and Yawgmoth decks. It's also excellent in token-heavy lists that can fodder creatures cheaply and repeatedly. As removal that ignores hexproof/indestructible and hits all opponents at once, it's a serious soft-stax piece that grinds creature decks into the dirt.
When NOT to play it: It needs creatures dying consistently — without a reliable sac outlet or token generator, it's a dead enchantment. It also does little against creatureless control or spellslinger decks, and at triple-black it's awkward in heavily multicolored builds. Skip it in spells-matter or non-creature-centric strategies.
Related cards
Dictate of Erebos
Nearly identical sacrifice-on-death effect, flash option.
Butcher of Malakir
Creature version of the same forced-sacrifice trigger.
Bloodflow Connoisseur
Sacrifice payoff, pairs with edict effects.
Martyr's Bond
Wider permanent version triggering on your permanents dying.
Dulcet Sirens
Not relevant; replace
Fleshbag Marauder
Edict creature for repeatable sacrifices to fuel Grave Pact.
Viscera Seer
Free sacrifice outlet to trigger Grave Pact repeatedly.
Pitiless Plunderer
Mana generation engine for aristocrat sacrifice loops.
Printings (15)
Played by these commanders
The Mimeoplasm100% of 2
Rulings (6)
- 2023-09-01
When the triggered ability resolves, first the player whose turn it is (if it isn't your turn) chooses which creature they will sacrifice, then each other player in turn order does the same, then all chosen creatures are sacrificed at the same time.
- 2023-09-01
None of the players are targeted. A player with hexproof would still sacrifice a creature.
- 2023-09-01
If multiple creatures you control die at the same time, Grave Pact's ability will trigger that many times.
- 2023-09-01
If you control more than one Grave Pact and a creature you control dies, each of the triggered abilities will trigger. Each other player will sacrifice a creature each time one of those abilities resolves.
- 2023-09-01
If two players each control a Grave Pact and a creature controlled by one of those players dies, a chain reaction happens. First the ability of that player's Grave Pact will trigger, causing each other player to sacrifice a creature. That sacrifice causes the ability of the other player's Grave Pact to trigger, and so on.
- 2023-09-01
In a Two-Headed Giant game, when a creature you control dies, Grave Pact's triggered ability will cause each other player, including your teammate, to sacrifice a creature. Grave Pact's ability won't trigger when a creature your teammate controls dies.