Brutal Deceiver
Creature — Spirit
: Look at the top card of your library.
: Reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, this creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn. Activate only once each turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Champions of Kamigawa
- Price
- $0.07
- EDHREC rank
- #29980
Brutal Deceiver is a three-mana 2/2 that can make a blocker's power 0 until end of turn for two mana — a niche combat trick stapled to an undersized body. It sees essentially no competitive play because both the body and the ability are below the bar for any format that has better options.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Brutal Deceiver is a bulk common that never finds a home. In Commander, a three-mana 2/2 with an activated combat trick fails the basic test of doing something powerful enough to justify a deck slot — you need answers, card advantage, or a combo role, and Brutal Deceiver offers none of those. In Pauper, where commons actually compete, the effect is too narrow and the body too small to displace any established creature. Legacy and Vintage are non-starters. Brutal Deceiver exists in cubes only as filler and in sealed pools only as a last resort.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.07 bulk tier
At $0.07, Brutal Deceiver is deep bulk — the kind of card that costs more to ship than it's worth. There is no demand signal that would move this off the bulk floor.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.