Cracked Skull
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
When this Aura enters, look at target player's hand. You may choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
When enchanted creature is dealt damage, destroy it.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Duskmourn: House of Horror
- Price
- $0.11
- EDHREC rank
- #13835
Cracked Skull makes a player discard a card and then draw a card — net hand size stays the same, which means you're trading a mana and a card to rearrange one opponent's hand, not actually deprive them of anything. It's a one-mana sorcery with no lasting board impact, and that's not good enough.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Cracked Skull is legal everywhere but rarely worth the slot in any of them. In Commander, forced discard is already a hard sell — opponents have three other players refilling their hands, and a one-for-one discard with a cantrip stapled on doesn't punish anyone meaningfully. Competitive formats like Legacy and Vintage have Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach doing the same job with actual card advantage; Cracked Skull doesn't threaten either of those environments. Pauper is the one format where budget discard sees play, but even there the bar is Duress or Raven's Crime, not this.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.11 bulk tier
At $0.11, Cracked Skull is deep bulk — you'll find it in a commons box, not a trade binder. The price reflects the card's power level accurately, and there's no reason to expect it to climb.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.