Blackmail
Sorcery
Target player reveals three cards from their hand and you choose one of them. That player discards that card.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Ninth Edition
- Price
- $0.45
- EDHREC rank
- #19180
Blackmail forces an opponent to reveal three cards from hand and discard one — but only if they have three or more cards, which means it blanks completely against hellbent opponents and loses teeth late when hands are small. It's a narrow discard spell that asks a lot of the board state to do its one job.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Blackmail is outclassed by nearly every other one-mana discard option — targeted discard is already a tough sell in a four-player format, and a conditional spell that requires the target to hold three cards makes it even harder to justify. Legacy and Vintage have the redundancy to support discard suites, but those formats already run Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek, which are unconditional and strictly more powerful; Blackmail doesn't crack those 60-card lists. Modern is the same story — the competition at one mana is too stiff for a spell with this many escape routes. Unless a specific brew needs density of discard effects past the first four slots, Blackmail stays on the bench across all formats.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.45 bulk tier
At $0.45, Blackmail sits firmly in bulk territory, and that price is a fair reflection of its power level. Don't expect movement — there's no spike waiting on a card this conditional.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.