Crime // Punishment
Sorcery // Sorcery
Put target creature or enchantment card from an opponent's graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.
- CMC
- 7
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BGW
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Breaking News
- Price
- $0.30
- EDHREC rank
- #22738
Crime // Punishment is one of the most efficient mass-removal spells in black-green, wiping every permanent of a chosen mana value for just X generic and one each of black and green. The Crime half rarely comes up, but Punishment alone earns its slot — a scalable board wipe that hits artifacts, enchantments, and creatures simultaneously is exactly what Golgari wants.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Crime // Punishment does its best work — multiplayer boards clog up with mana rocks, token generators, and low-curve synergy pieces, and a single Punishment set to two or three can erase entire gameplans from multiple opponents at once. In Legacy and Vintage it sees occasional fringe play in midrange black-green shells as a catch-all answer, but faster formats punish a three-mana sorcery that doesn't impact the board immediately enough to compete with dedicated removal. Modern has better options at this slot, and Punishment rarely appears there. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander — go-wide planeswalker strategies create exactly the low-cost permanent density that makes this shine.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.30 bulk tier
At $0.30, Crime // Punishment sits firmly in bulk territory despite being a genuinely powerful effect. That price is unlikely to move much — it's been reprinted enough to keep supply comfortable, so pick up copies freely without any concern about overpaying.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.