Chaoslace
Instant
Target spell or permanent becomes red. (Its mana symbols remain unchanged.)
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Limited Edition Beta
- Price
- $44.63
- EDHREC rank
- #29350
Chaoslace changes a permanent or spell's color to red — a one-mana instant with almost no competitive application in any format. It's a curiosity from Magic's earliest design era, not a card you build around.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Chaoslace is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but sees no meaningful play in any of them. In Commander, color-changing effects are niche at best — they can blank protection abilities or disrupt color-specific triggers, but Chaoslace's single-target, sorcery-level impact rarely justifies a slot. Legacy and Vintage have access to nearly every card ever printed, and neither format has found a home for it. Oathbreaker follows the same logic: the effect is too narrow to compete with actual interaction.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
There are no meaningful budget alternatives because Chaoslace fills no role worth filling — the problem isn't price, it's utility. If you're trying to interact with color-based protection, Painter's Servant does it comprehensively and at a fraction of the strategic cost.
Price Context
Current price
$44.63 premium tier
At $44.63, Chaoslace sits in premium territory purely on collector demand — it's a heavily played original Alpha/Beta rare with almost no gameplay relevance driving the price. The value is in age and condition, not power, so it holds for the vintage collectibles market rather than the competitive or Commander one.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.