Contaminated Bond

Contaminated Bond was released in July 2005 as part of the Ninth Edition core set for Magic: The Gathering. Core sets of this era were primarily composed of reprints from previous expansions, intended to provide a stable, evergreen foundation for the game's rotating competitive formats while introducing new players to established mechanics and themes.

The card features artwork by the illustrator Arnie Swekel, who contributed extensively to the visual language of the game throughout the late 1990s and 2000s. His design for this card utilizes a gothic, macabre aesthetic typical of the black mana color identity, aiming to visually represent the concept of a parasitic or debilitating curse tethered to the player's resources. Upon release, it was regarded as a niche utility card, noted primarily for its specific role in aggressive, resource-denial deck archetypes.