Black Market Connections
Enchantment
At the beginning of your first main phase, choose one or more — • Sell Contraband — Create a Treasure token. You lose 1 life. • Buy Information — Draw a card. You lose 2 life. • Hire a Mercenary — Create a 3/2 colorless Shapeshifter creature token with changeling. You lose 3 life. (It is every creature type.)
Strategy & Gameplay
Black Market Connections is a versatile and powerful enchantment that offers tremendous flexibility across multiple game formats and deck archetypes. This card exemplifies the risk-reward gameplay philosophy by presenting three distinct modes that can be mixed and matched each turn, allowing you to tailor your strategy to whatever situation the game presents. The ability to generate Treasure tokens through Sell Contraband provides mana acceleration and resource generation, Buy Information draws cards at the cost of life total, and Hire a Mercenary creates an immediate board presence with a 3/2 creature that has changeling, making it every creature type for synergy purposes. The life payment mechanic transforms this card into a perfect fit for strategies that leverage life as a resource, such as life-drain decks, rakdos midrange, aristocrat strategies, and grindy control shells that can afford to spend life in exchange for incremental advantages. Players should seriously consider this card because it represents incredible value flexibility at just two mana, allowing you to adapt each turn to your needs rather than being locked into a single effect. Its legality across historic, timeless, gladiator, modern, legacy, vintage, penny, commander, oathbreaker, and brawl formats makes it a solid investment for constructed players at any competitive level. Whether you need to ramp into threats, refuel your hand, establish board presence, or simply grind out incremental value, Black Market Connections delivers consistent utility that scales with your game plan.
Illustrated by Filipe Pagliuso