Basic Conjuration
Sorcery — Lesson
Look at the top six cards of your library. You may reveal a creature card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. You gain 3 life.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Strixhaven: School of Mages Promos
- Price
- $0.23
- EDHREC rank
- #17299
Basic Conjuration puts two creatures from your library into your hand for three mana — that's raw card advantage stapled to a tutor effect, which is a strong return at instant speed. Iroh, Grand Lotus decks run it because finding the exact creature for the moment is exactly what that commander rewards.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Iroh, Grand Lotus
Iroh, Grand Lotus turns every creature you cast into an incremental value engine, so Basic Conjuration pulling two specific creatures to hand means two guaranteed triggers on your terms — the card isn't just selection, it's sequencing control.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Basic Conjuration fills the role of a flexible tutor-plus-draw hybrid, and the instant speed is what separates it from slower alternatives — you can grab an answer at end of turn rather than telegraphing on your own. Competitive Commander tables will find three mana for two cards into hand acceptable but not exceptional; the lack of a direct-to-battlefield mode keeps it out of the most cutthroat builds. In Modern and Pioneer, three mana to put creatures into hand simply doesn't compete with cheaper, more targeted options, so Basic Conjuration stays on the shelf in those formats. Legacy and Vintage have access to so many broken alternatives that this won't see play there either. The card lives and dies in Commander, where the value proposition is real and the speed threshold is forgiving enough to meet it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.23 bulk tier
At $0.23, Basic Conjuration is deep bulk — low enough that there's no financial friction to testing it in any deck that wants creature selection. Bulk commons and uncommons at this price rarely appreciate unless they find a breakout home, so treat it as a freely swappable slot card rather than a pickup with upside.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Iroh, Grand Lotus
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.