Break Open
Instant
Turn target face-down creature an opponent controls face up.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Onslaught
- Price
- $0.07
- EDHREC rank
- #30042
Break Open flips a face-down creature — yours or an opponent's — at instant speed for a single red mana. Narrow by design, but in the right shell it's a one-mana ambush that turns a morph bluff into a threat or exposes whatever your opponent is hiding.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Break Open is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but its relevance is almost entirely contingent on morph being present. In Commander, face-down creatures show up often enough — Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer and morph-heavy pods — that Break Open has a real home, and the instant-speed opponent targeting adds a political wrinkle. Pauper has essentially no morph presence worth targeting, so it sits unplayed there. Legacy and Vintage see it as a non-factor; morph strategies don't exist at those power levels.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.07 bulk tier
At $0.07, Break Open is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard and postage. It won't appreciate; the demand ceiling is a single niche archetype in Commander, and supply is effectively infinite.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.