Booby Trap
Artifact
As this artifact enters, choose an opponent and a card name other than a basic land card name.
The chosen player reveals each card they draw.
When the chosen player draws a card with the chosen name, sacrifice this artifact. If you do, this artifact deals 10 damage to that player.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Tempest
- Price
- $0.89
- EDHREC rank
- #23294
Booby Trap hits an opponent for 10 damage out of nowhere the moment they draw a card you named — no combat step, no attack, no warning. Six mana and a coin-flip-level naming guess is a steep buy-in for an effect that can whiff entirely if you name wrong.
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 |
Commander is the only format where Booby Trap sees any real play, and even there it's a niche include. The combination of multiplayer card knowledge, information spells like Telepathy or Glasses of Urza, and opponents drawing frequently off of their own engines makes hitting the named card at least plausible — you're not guessing blind if you've seen their hand. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but functionally unplayable; ten damage doesn't close games fast enough to justify six mana in formats that end on turn two. Oathbreaker is similarly legal but the smaller deck size and faster pace make the card worse, not better.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.89 bulk tier
At $0.89, Booby Trap sits firmly in bulk territory — you're paying for the novelty, not the power. Expect no upward pressure on price; casual demand keeps it from hitting true bulk-bin zero, but it's not a card that appreciates.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.