Diabolic Intent – Planeshift
Date Reviewed: June 5, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.38
Casual: 4.25
Limited: 3.63
Multiplayer: 3.75
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
There’s whole lists out there about “fixed” versions of cards that turned out to be insanely powerful in their own right. They’re usually presented as clickbait, but there is something valid to think about there. Some are strangely accepted as normal and some are overlooked, but surprisingly many are strong enough to dominate formats and overshadow numerous other cards in their own right. I’m always surprised at how Pauper players talk about Brainstorm as though it were an everyday card; I’m similarly surprised that Diabolic Intent doesn’t get more attention. In reality, sacrificing a creature is only a penalty for the all-in combo decks like Storm, and there are probably even some (less competitive) builds of Storm that could use it. The cost and the flexibility are often barely different in practice from Demonic Tutor, and a lot of decks that could use the older card can use Diabolic Intent pretty much just as easily. I’m glad to see it finally getting some recognition in Premodern, because casual players have long known that it is a major threat.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
Given that Demonic Tutor has long been considered a card that’s extremely powerful, and Diabolic Tutor has been considered pretty bad, a question then becomes how to thread the needle, make a card that’s not as powerful as the former but more playable than the latter. Enter Diabolic Edict, with the mana cost of its forebear but an added cost that’s not insignificant; it’s not a guarantee you’ll have a creature you can sacrifice when you have the spell, but if you do, then this gets pretty close to the iconic forebear.
That said, if you’re building with Diabolic Edict in your deck, you’re going to build with a mind for putting the spell to use as quickly as possible, and a turn two tutor has always been pretty puissant in terms of making magic work. Even if this isn’t on turn two, though, it’s an excellent rate of return, and you can even pull off some benefit from creatures that like to die to trigger effects. It’s no Demonic Tutor, yes, but it’s just as powerful in plenty of cases, and it’s not banned in as many places…it’s perfectly playable in plenty of formats, and I think there’s room to find room for this as long as you’re not in a creatureless deck.
Constructed: 4.75 (one of the strongest tutors we’ve had in the years since the original)
Casual: 4
Limited: 3.75 (you’d rather have a bomb, but this finds a bomb)
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
We would love more volunteers to help us with our Magic the Gathering Card of the Day reviews. If you want to share your ideas on cards with other fans, feel free to drop us an email. We’d be happy to link back to your blog / YouTube Channel / etc. 😉
Click here to read over 5,000 more MTG Card of the Day Reviews!
Daily Since 2001.
