This is a very high risk card, even by the
standards of Demonic Consultation variants. They
may have removed the potential for it to
literally kill you, unlike the original or its
more direct variants Spoils of the Vault and
Aesthetic Consultation. But it's much too easy
to hit a duplicate and end the sequence early in
a conventional deck with four-ofs. Fortunately,
singleton formats have always been very popular,
and it's far from out of the question to make a
functional deck where literally every card has a
different name, even lands. In such a case, this
card has the potential to be quite solid,
although it may still be a second or third
Demonic Tutor in combo decks.
Today's card of the day is Tainted Pact which
is a two mana Black instant that exiles the top
card until you put one in hand or exile two card
with the same name. Obviously this works
well in a Commander deck with minimal basic
lands, but at worst it is two mana to draw a
card with some control over what that card is.
For Black that is a a great effect and can be a
benefit to many decks in different formats.
In Limited the number of basic lands drops this
down to more of a two mana to draw one and stop
as soon as you get a Swamp or useful card.
Even at that reduced level it is a strong first
pick in Booster and belongs in every Black deck
in Sealed as it has no drawback if used
cautiously. Used in desperation it can
potentially search out a key card to win or
stall a game as a longshot, but otherwise a
safer play is at least reliable.
