Premodern Contamination Deck Guide (2026)
Premodern Contamination is a mono-black prison deck in which every land on the table taps for black mana only. Contamination turns off the land mana of every other color, Nether Spirit keeps coming back to pay its upkeep, and Duress, Cabal Therapy, Rishadan Port and Wasteland keep the opponent from answering the lock before it lands. TC Decks lists 266 Contamination decks, and on MTGDecks it holds 0.5 percent of the metagame over the last 60 days (25 lists), with a 42 percent win rate over 187 recorded matches between April 8 and October 5, 2026: strong against Stiflenought, weak against Mono Black and Sligh. The reference list is the one Jonathan Tozzini played to win a 40-player Lega Premodern stage in Empoli, Italy, on June 19, 2026; Jan Pavlík won a 19-player event in Prague in July with a very similar list. This guide covers the plan, the key cards, mulligans, sequencing, every major matchup, sideboard plans and a budget path.
How the deck wins
- Land Contamination on turn three. Duress or Cabal Therapy first takes the counterspell or enchantment removal that would stop it, Rishadan Port and Wasteland keep their colored mana short, and Contamination on turn three locks the rest of their land mana to black.
- Keep paying the upkeep. In each of your upkeeps, Contamination asks for a creature. Nether Spirit returns from your graveyard in your upkeep as long as it is the only creature card there, so let its trigger resolve before Contamination's and sacrifice it again. Zombie Infestation tokens and an animated Mishra's Factory are the backups.
- Win with what the lock does not stop. Nether Spirit, Zombie tokens and Mishra's Factory attack while the opponent's colored spells sit in hand; Innocent Blood, Smother and Powder Keg clear the way, and Skeletal Scrying keeps the cards coming.
Core cards
- 4 Contamination
- 4 Nether Spirit
- 4 Zombie Infestation
- 4 Duress
- 4 Cabal Therapy
- 3 Innocent Blood
- 3 Skeletal Scrying
- 2 Smother
- 3 Powder Keg
- 2 Phyrexian Furnace
- 1 Contagion
- 4 Mishra's Factory
- 3 Wasteland
- 3 Rishadan Port
- 12 Swamp
Key cards
- Contamination: Three mana, the lock: if a land is tapped for mana, it produces {B} instead of any other type and amount. Islands, Plains, City of Brass, Urza lands and City of Traitors all make one black mana, so blue, white, red and green spells stop. It does not touch mana from creatures (Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves), artifacts (Mox Diamond, Thran Dynamo, Chromatic Sphere) or alternative costs (Fireblast, Gush, Daze, Foil). In each of your upkeeps it costs a creature. A Seal of Cleansing already on the battlefield needs no mana to destroy it, and a Pernicious Deed there only needs {X}.
- Nether Spirit: Three mana, a 2/2 that returns in your upkeep if it is the only creature card in your graveyard. It pays for Contamination in each of your upkeeps, flashes back Cabal Therapy and comes back after Innocent Blood. Graveyard hate (Withered Wretch, Phyrexian Furnace, Tormod's Crypt) or a second creature card in your graveyard stops the loop, so exile your other dead creatures with Skeletal Scrying or Phyrexian Furnace.
- Zombie Infestation: Two mana: discard two cards to create a 2/2 black Zombie, at instant speed. It turns extra lands into attackers or into Contamination's sacrifice, and it lets you keep your hand small against Black Vise.
- Rishadan Port: A land that taps a target land for {1} and a tap, best in their upkeep so the land stays tapped for their turn. Next to Contamination it keeps their few mana sources down; Wasteland destroys a nonbasic land outright.
- Innocent Blood: One mana: each player sacrifices a creature of their choice. With Nether Spirit or a Zombie token to give up, you lose nothing that matters, and it gets past shroud and protection, which stop targeted removal.
- Cabal Therapy: One mana: name a nonland card, and they discard every copy in their hand; flash it back by sacrificing Nether Spirit or a Zombie token. With Duress, it takes the counterspell or the Seal of Cleansing that would stop Contamination.
- Skeletal Scrying: {X}{B}, instant: exile X cards from your graveyard to draw X and lose X life. It is the deck's card advantage, and the cards you exile can be the creature cards that would stop Nether Spirit from returning.
- Powder Keg: Two mana: you may give it a fuse counter in each of your upkeeps, and when you tap and sacrifice it, it destroys every artifact and creature with mana value equal to the counters. On one counter it kills Goblin Lackey, Llanowar Elves, Mother of Runes, Phyrexian Dreadnought and The Rack; on two, Quirion Dryad, Wild Mongrel and Winter Orb. It hits your own artifacts and creatures with that mana value too, such as Phyrexian Furnace on one.
- Mishra's Factory: A land that becomes a 2/2 for {1}, a generic cost that black mana pays, so Contamination does not stop it. It attacks while their spells are stuck in hand, blocks, and can be sacrificed to Contamination in your upkeep if nothing else is there.
Mulligan guide
Keep
- Contamination with three lands, a creature to feed it and a discard spell: Swamp, Swamp, Wasteland, Duress, Nether Spirit, Contamination and Innocent Blood is the archetypal keep.
- Two discard spells, Nether Spirit or Zombie Infestation and three lands, even without Contamination: the discard protects the lock you draw later.
- Against black decks, removal and Nether Spirit matter more than Contamination, which does little against them.
Ship
- Hands without black mana: Mishra's Factory, Wasteland and Rishadan Port make colorless mana until Contamination is out and cannot cast it.
- Contamination without Nether Spirit or Zombie Infestation: it costs a creature in your next upkeep.
- One land, or six lands and one spell.
Contamination mulligans for the lock and its upkeep: Contamination, a creature to feed it and black mana. A six-card hand with all three beats seven cards without them.
Play tips and sequencing
- Discard before the lock. Duress or Cabal Therapy on turn one or two takes the counterspell, Seal of Cleansing or Naturalize that would answer Contamination.
- Contamination when they are short on mana. Use Rishadan Port in their upkeep and Wasteland on their best nonbasic land first; the turn they cannot answer, cast Contamination.
- Order the upkeep triggers. Nether Spirit's return and Contamination's sacrifice both trigger at the beginning of your upkeep: put Contamination's trigger on the stack first and Nether Spirit's on top, so the Spirit returns before you have to sacrifice a creature.
- Keep the graveyard clean. Nether Spirit only returns if it is the only creature card in your graveyard; exile other dead creatures with Skeletal Scrying or Phyrexian Furnace. Zombie tokens are not cards and do not count.
- Port in their upkeep. Tapping their land in their upkeep keeps it tapped for their whole turn, and with Contamination out, Port's {1} can come from any of your other lands.
- Make Zombies at instant speed. Discard extra lands to Zombie Infestation in their end step or in response to an Edict, so you always have a creature to sacrifice.
- Powder Keg on the right number. Count the mana values on their side before you add a counter, and remember that it destroys your own artifacts and creatures with that mana value too.
Matchups
- Stiflenought (favorable): Contamination shuts off almost their whole deck: Stifle, Counterspell, Portent and Opt need blue mana, and Phyrexian Dreadnought without Stifle sacrifices itself. Under the lock, of their blue cards only Gush, Daze, Foil and Thwart, which cost no mana, can still be cast. Before it resolves, Counterspell, Daze, Foil and Thwart can still counter Contamination, so take the counter with Duress first or keep a spare mana for Daze. Powder Keg on one counter kills Dreadnought. MTGDecks: 64 percent over 22 matches.
- Sligh (unfavorable): Burn is faster than the lock and partly ignores it: Fireblast costs two Mountains instead of mana, and Cursed Scroll's {3} is generic. Contamination still stops Lightning Bolt, Incinerate and Grim Lavamancer, so land it early and block with Nether Spirit and Zombie tokens; Smother handles Jackal Pup and Lavamancer, and Innocent Blood does while one of them is their only creature. MTGDecks (Burn): 33 percent over 12 matches, limited data.
- Goblins (even): Goblin Lackey is the danger: each hit puts a Goblin onto the battlefield without mana, which Contamination cannot stop. Kill Lackey on sight with Smother, or with Innocent Blood while it is their only creature; Powder Keg on one counter kills Lackey and Mogg Fanatic. Under Contamination every Goblin they cast, Gempalm Incinerator's cycling and Naturalize need red or green, and their Rishadan Port and Wasteland fight yours. Limited data: 50 percent over 12 matches.
- Enchantress (slightly favorable): Almost every card they cast needs green or white, so Contamination on turn three stops the engine before it starts, though a Wild Growth already on a land still adds its {G}. Duress takes Seal of Cleansing, which can destroy Contamination without mana, and Solitary Confinement before it lands. Dystopia after boarding makes them sacrifice a green or white permanent in each of their upkeeps. Very limited data.
- Terrageddon (slightly unfavorable): Mana denial against mana denial: their Wasteland hits your nonbasic lands, Rishadan Port taps any land, and Mox Diamond and Werebear give them colored mana Contamination cannot touch. Without them, Terravore, Armageddon and Swords to Plowshares need green or white mana their lands no longer make. Terravore grows with every land card in a graveyard, your Wastelands included; Smother kills it, and Innocent Blood gets around Nimble Mongoose's shroud. Limited data: 45 percent over 11 matches.
- Replenish (even): Their deck is blue and white, so Contamination stops them from casting Replenish, Opalescence and Parallax Wave once it resolves; a Seal of Cleansing already on the battlefield, which destroys it without mana, and Attunement's return, which costs none, still work. Take Seal and Replenish with Duress or Cabal Therapy, and after boarding Haunting Echoes exiles their graveyard and every copy of those cards in their library. Very limited data: 33 percent over 6 matches.
- Landstill (slightly unfavorable): Their counters are the problem: Counterspell, Mana Leak and a kicked Prohibit stop Contamination, so take them with Duress and Cabal Therapy first or cast it when they are tapped. Once it resolves, Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Fact or Fiction and Faerie Conclave's animation all need white or blue; Mishra's Factory, Dust Bowl, Powder Keg and Phyrexian Furnace still work, and the Furnace can exile Nether Spirit from your graveyard. Limited data: 36 percent over 11 matches.
- Oath of Druids (even): Oath of Druids gives them Terravore in each of their upkeeps in which you control more creatures, and Nether Spirit and your Zombies count. Contamination stops Oath, Terravore and Swords to Plowshares if they are still in hand, but Mox Diamond makes colored mana, and their Sphere of Resistance, Wasteland and Rishadan Port slow you down too. Duress takes Oath before it lands; Smother answers Terravore, and so does Innocent Blood while it is their only creature. No meaningful match data.
- Full English Breakfast (even): Their combo needs green: Survival of the Fittest and Hermit Druid both need {G}, to cast and to activate, which under Contamination only Birds of Paradise, Wall of Roots, Elvish Spirit Guide and Eladamri's Vineyard can make, while Cabal Therapy and Unearth are black and still work. Duress and Cabal Therapy take Survival before it lands, Smother kills Hermit Druid, and Phyrexian Furnace and Haunting Echoes go after the graveyard. Very limited data.
- Mono Black (unfavorable): Contamination does nothing to a black deck's mana, so this is a fight between two black decks, and theirs attacks better: Hypnotic Specter and Nantuko Shade off Dark Ritual come early, and Withered Wretch exiles Nether Spirit from your graveyard. Innocent Blood, Smother and Powder Keg trade with their creatures; after boarding, Diabolic Edict and Lurking Skirge come in. Limited data: 21 percent over 14 matches.
- Stasis (favorable): Contamination ends Stasis: its upkeep cost of {U} cannot be paid from lands that make only black mana, and Forsaken City is a land too. Cast it when they cannot counter it; afterwards they can only cast Gush, Daze, Thwart and Black Vise. Black Vise punishes a full hand, so discard extra cards to Zombie Infestation. Very limited data: 67 percent over 6 matches.
- Elves (slightly unfavorable): Contamination only touches their lands: Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves and Priest of Titania make green mana as creatures, and Gaea's Cradle drops to one black mana. Powder Keg on one counter kills Llanowar and Fyndhorn Elves, Sickening Dreams sweeps all the mana Elves, and after boarding Engineered Plague naming Elf and Cursed Totem, which stops their mana abilities, do more than the lock. Very limited data.
- Psychatog (favorable): Contamination stops them from casting Psychatog, Counterspell, Accumulated Knowledge and the cantrips; only Duress, Smother, Sickening Dreams, Gush and Foil can still be cast. Cast it after Duress takes their counter, since Counterspell and Foil, which needs no mana, are their answers. Very limited data.
- UG Madness (slightly favorable): Almost everything they cast needs green or blue, so Contamination on turn three strands most of their hand: only Basking Rootwalla's madness cost of {0} and Daze cost no mana. The danger is a fast start with Wild Mongrel before the lock, and Wonder in their graveyard still gives their creatures flying. Smother handles the early creatures, and Innocent Blood does while one is their only creature. No meaningful match data.
- The Rock (slightly unfavorable): Their black half works under Contamination: Duress, Cabal Therapy, Ravenous Rats, Smother, Diabolic Edict and Recurring Nightmare. The green half mostly does not: Pernicious Deed, Ravenous Baloth, Krosan Tusker's cycling and Treetop Village's animation need green, which only Wall of Roots still makes. A Pernicious Deed already on the battlefield only needs {X}, and for three it destroys Contamination, Zombie Infestation and Nether Spirit, so take Deed with Duress before it lands. Very limited data: 25 percent over 8 matches.
- Reanimator (slightly unfavorable): Contamination does little here: Reanimate, Exhume, Animate Dead, Putrid Imp and Dark Ritual are all black, and only Careful Study then needs Lotus Petal for its blue. Your answers are the discard and the graveyard: Duress and Cabal Therapy take the reanimation spell, Phyrexian Furnace exiles the creature they discarded, and Haunting Echoes or Tormod's Crypt after boarding empties their graveyard. Innocent Blood answers a lone Akroma, which has protection from black. Very limited data.
- Deadguy Ale (slightly unfavorable): Their black half ignores Contamination: Hypnotic Specter, Nantuko Shade and Withered Wretch off Dark Ritual, Duress and Phyrexian Arena. Swords to Plowshares, Vindicate, Gerrard's Verdict and Disenchant need white, and Exalted Angel stays a face-down 2/2. Withered Wretch exiles Nether Spirit from your graveyard, so kill it first. No match data.
- Tron (favorable): Contamination breaks Tron: Urza's Mine, Power Plant and Tower make one black mana each, and Swords to Plowshares, Wrath of God, Decree of Justice and their counterspells need white or blue. Chromatic Sphere can turn one mana into a color for one spell. Wasteland and Rishadan Port go after the Urza lands before Contamination lands, and Masticore, which is colorless, is the card to Innocent Blood. No match data.
- Clerics (slightly unfavorable): Contamination does nothing to their black mana, and their plan is fast: Dark Supplicant sacrifices three Clerics for Scion of Darkness as early as turn two. Kill Dark Supplicant with Smother or Powder Keg on one counter, and keep Innocent Blood for when the 6/6 is their only creature. Withered Wretch exiles Nether Spirit from your graveyard, and Engineered Plague naming Cleric after boarding shrinks almost their whole team. Very limited data.
- The Solution (slightly favorable): Every spell they cast needs white, blue or red, so a resolved Contamination stops all of it except a face-down Exalted Angel. Their counters and Meddling Mage naming Contamination are the answers, so strip them with Duress and Cabal Therapy first. Smother handles the cheap creatures they cast before the lock, and Innocent Blood, which Mother of Runes cannot stop, does while one is their only creature. No match data.
- Dromar Control (slightly favorable): Most of their deck needs white or blue: Vindicate, Swords to Plowshares, Meddling Mage, Shadowmage Infiltrator and their counters can no longer be cast under Contamination, and only Duress and a face-down Exalted Angel still can. Take Mana Leak with Duress before you cast the lock, and cast Contamination before Meddling Mage can name it. No match data.
- Aluren (slightly favorable): Aluren needs green, and almost every creature they combo with needs blue or green, so Contamination before Aluren stops most of the deck, though Birds of Paradise and Wall of Roots still make {G} and together can still cast it. Once Aluren is on the battlefield, their creatures with mana value 3 or less cost nothing and the lock no longer matters. Duress and Cabal Therapy take Aluren first. No meaningful match data.
- Zombies (even): Contamination does nothing to their black mana, so it comes down to removal against a fast start: Carnophage, Sarcomancy and Lord of the Undead attack early, and Withered Wretch exiles Nether Spirit from your graveyard. Innocent Blood, Smother and Sickening Dreams trade with the small Zombies, and Engineered Plague naming Zombie after boarding shrinks their team, though your own Zombie tokens too. No match data.
- MUD (even): Most of their deck is colorless, so Contamination only slows it: Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors make one black mana instead of two colorless, and Goblin Welder and Tinker need red or blue. Thran Dynamo and Mind Stone ignore the lock. Powder Keg destroys their cheap artifacts on the right counter, Rishadan Port and Wasteland go after their lands, and Winter Orb and Tangle Wire hurt you as well. No meaningful match data.
- White Weenie (slightly favorable): Almost every card they cast is white, so Contamination on turn three stops their deck except Cursed Scroll and creatures cast face down, such as Exalted Angel or Whipcorder. What they cast before it is the problem: Powder Keg kills Savannah Lions and Mother of Runes on one counter and the Soltari, whose shadow makes them unblockable, on two; Innocent Blood gets past protection, but they choose what to sacrifice. Seal of Cleansing on the battlefield destroys Contamination without mana. Very limited data.
- BW Control (even): Their removal and finishers are white: under Contamination, Swords to Plowshares, Vindicate, Gerrard's Verdict, Wrath of God, Decree of Justice and a hard-cast Eternal Dragon all stop, and Exalted Angel stays a face-down 2/2. Duress, Skeletal Scrying and Phyrexian Furnace still work, and the Furnace can break Nether Spirit's loop. Very limited data: 33 percent over 6 matches.
- Gro-a-Tog (slightly favorable): Gro-a-Tog needs green, blue and white, and every land it has makes only black under Contamination: Quirion Dryad, Psychatog, Meddling Mage, Counterspell and Swords to Plowshares can no longer be cast, and only Gush, Daze, Foil and Mox Diamond, which cost no mana, still can. Cast Contamination when they cannot counter it; Smother kills Quirion Dryad at any size. No meaningful match data.
- Pit Rack (slightly unfavorable): Contamination does nothing to their black mana, and The Rack punishes the hand you empty into Zombie Infestation. Powder Keg on one counter destroys The Rack and Cursed Scroll, Nether Spirit keeps coming back through their removal while it is the only creature card in your graveyard, and Skeletal Scrying refills your hand. Their Duress and Cabal Therapy can take Contamination, but against a black deck you do not need it. No match data.
- Rebels (slightly favorable): Rebels needs white and blue to cast its creatures and counters, so Contamination stops Lin Sivvi, Ramosian Sergeant, Counterspell and Swords to Plowshares. But a searcher already on the battlefield keeps working, since its search costs generic mana, which black pays. Kill the searchers with Smother, or with Innocent Blood while one is their only creature, before you cast the lock. No match data.
- Turbo Lands (even): Contamination shuts off most of their spells: under it their lands only make black, so Exploration, Summer Bloom, Crop Rotation and Seismic Assault cannot be cast, though Horn of Greed, which costs only generic mana, still can. Cast it before their engine is on the battlefield, take Seal of Cleansing with Duress, and keep Wasteland for Glacial Chasm, which otherwise prevents the damage of all your attackers. No match data.
- Fluctuator (slightly favorable): Contamination helps them: every land taps for black, which is all Songs of the Damned and Haunting Misery need. The rest of your deck hurts: Duress and Cabal Therapy take Fluctuator, Powder Keg on two counters destroys it, Wasteland and Rishadan Port hit their nonbasic lands, and Haunting Echoes or Tormod's Crypt after boarding empties their graveyard. Null Rod does not stop Fluctuator. No match data.
- RG Zoo (slightly unfavorable): Zoo is fast enough to get under the lock: Jackal Pup, Mogg Fanatic and Grim Lavamancer on turn one and Quirion Dryad on turn two. Contamination still strands most of their hand, since almost every spell needs red or green; Mogg Fanatic and Seal of Fire already on the battlefield and Lava Dart's flashback need no mana, but Grim Lavamancer, Treetop Village and Naturalize stop. Powder Keg on one counter destroys Pup, Fanatic and Lavamancer, on two Quirion Dryad, and Innocent Blood makes them sacrifice a creature of their choice. Dystopia after boarding makes them sacrifice a green permanent in each of their upkeeps. No meaningful match data.
Sideboard guide
- vs Goblins, Elves, Zombies, Clerics and White Weenie: Engineered Plague. Engineered Plague, in almost every sideboard, gives every creature of the named type -1/-1 on both sides: naming Goblin or Elf kills their X/1s, naming Cleric hits Mother of Runes, Soltari Priest and Soltari Monk, and naming Zombie also shrinks your own Zombie tokens. Out: Skeletal Scrying.
- vs Enchantress, Terrageddon, Oath of Druids, Elves and White Weenie: Dystopia. Dystopia, in most sideboards, makes each player sacrifice a green or white permanent in their upkeep, and a mono-black deck has none. It is a second lock that works no matter where their mana comes from; its cumulative upkeep costs one more life in each of your upkeeps.
- vs White Weenie, Landstill, BW Control, Enchantress and Replenish: Gloom. Gloom, in about four of ten sideboards, makes white spells cost three more and taxes the activated abilities of white enchantments, so Seal of Cleansing can no longer destroy Contamination for free.
- vs Reanimator, Full English Breakfast, Replenish and Psychatog: Haunting Echoes, Tormod's Crypt, Phyrexian Furnace. Haunting Echoes, in about a third of the sideboards, exiles every card in their graveyard except basic lands, and every copy of those cards left in their library. Tormod's Crypt exiles one player's graveyard at instant speed, and the extra Phyrexian Furnaces exile the one card that matters. Against Reanimator these matter more than Contamination, since their reanimation spells are black.
- vs Mono Black, Pit Rack, Zombies, Clerics and Reanimator: Diabolic Edict, Lurking Skirge. Contamination does nothing to a black deck's mana, so against them the sideboard brings creature answers: Diabolic Edict, in about four of ten sideboards, and Lurking Skirge, which becomes a 3/2 flier as soon as one of their creatures dies. Out: one or two Contamination.
- vs Elves, Goblins and MUD: Cursed Totem, Null Rod. Cursed Totem, in a fifth of the sideboards, stops every activated ability of creatures: Llanowar Elves, Priest of Titania, Goblin Sharpshooter and Goblin Welder. Your Mishra's Factory can still be animated, but an animated Factory cannot use its own pump ability. Null Rod stops the activated abilities of artifacts, MUD's Thran Dynamo and Mind Stone included, but also your own Powder Keg and Phyrexian Furnace.
Budget and upgrades
Typical cost: $550–$1,720. The reference list (Jonathan Tozzini, first of 40 in Empoli, June 19) costs about $1,720 with its sideboard at the Premodern-era printings tracked here. Four Polluted Delta are about $510 of that, three Rishadan Port about $320, three Powder Keg about $220 and four Wasteland about $190; in the sideboard three Dystopia are about $140. The lock itself is cheaper: four Contamination, four Nether Spirit, three Zombie Infestation and four Innocent Blood cost about $120 together.
- Never cut the lock: Contamination, Nether Spirit, Zombie Infestation and Innocent Blood.
- The budget build plays Swamps instead of Polluted Delta and Rishadan Port, Sickening Dreams instead of Powder Keg, and Perish instead of Dystopia in the sideboard: about $550 with the same lock.
- Upgrade in this order: Rishadan Port first, the second half of the mana denial, then Powder Keg, then Polluted Delta.
