Castaway's Despair
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
When this Aura enters, tap enchanted creature.
Enchanted creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $0.19
- EDHREC rank
- #25885
Castaway's Despair locks down one creature and sticks around as long as the enchantment does — no mana sink, no upkeep, just a persistent soft-removal effect. Four mana for a non-exile aura that leaves the creature on board is overcosted in nearly every competitive context.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Castaway's Despair is legal across Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Pauper, Oathbreaker, and Vintage, but seeing play in almost none of them. In Commander, four mana for a tap-lock that doesn't remove the creature, doesn't stop activated abilities, and falls off if the enchantment is answered is too fragile and too slow against a three-opponent table. Pauper is the only format where commons-only constraints could theoretically push it into consideration, but even there, better Aura-based removal exists at the same or lower cost. Across the 60-card formats, it simply doesn't compete with the efficiency of hard removal.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.19 bulk tier
At $0.19, Castaway's Despair sits firmly in bulk territory. Demand is low enough that this price is stable — not because the card is undervalued, but because the ceiling for a conditional tap-lock aura is essentially the floor.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.