Ajani's Response
Instant
This spell costs 
less to cast if it targets a tapped creature.
Destroy target creature.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven
- Price
- $0.12
- EDHREC rank
- #22909
Ajani's Response counters a spell targeting one of your permanents and draws you a card — two effects on one instant for two mana. It's a reactive piece that replaces itself, which keeps it from being a dead draw, but narrowness is the real problem: it does nothing without an opponent targeting your stuff first.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Ajani's Response is a sideboard card fighting for a mainboard slot — it answers removal and draws a card, but it competes against unconditional counterspells that don't ask whether someone is targeting you. In 1v1 formats like Modern or Pioneer, the reactive conditions are easier to engineer and the card-draw matters more on a tighter resource budget, but even there it sits behind Stubborn Denial and Spell Pierce in spell efficiency. Pauper is the format where it's most plausible as a budget counter-with-upside, though the condition still limits it to reactive sideboards. Across the board, Ajani's Response is a situational answer that rewards dense threat environments and punishes slow or spell-light tables.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.12 bulk tier
At $0.12, Ajani's Response is deep bulk — the kind of card you pick up as an afterthought or pull from a bulk bin. That price reflects actual demand, not a hidden bargain; don't expect it to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.