Cruel Sadist
Creature — Human Assassin
, 
, Pay 1 life: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
, , Remove X +1/+1 counters from this creature: It deals X damage to target creature.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Jumpstart 2022
- Price
- $0.13
- EDHREC rank
- #18698
Cruel Sadist is a mana-sink threat that trades incremental investment for targeted creature removal — useful when you can feed it counters cheaply, irrelevant when you can't. The payoff exists, but one mana per counter plus two to activate is a steep ongoing tax for a 1/1 body.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Cruel Sadist sees essentially no play in competitive formats — Legacy and Vintage have far more efficient ways to kill creatures, and Modern and Pioneer offer removal that doesn't require a three-turn setup. In Commander, Cruel Sadist finds its best home in black-heavy aristocrats or +1/+1 counter builds where incidental counter generation makes the removal clause nearly free to activate. Outside of dedicated counter synergies, the activation cost is prohibitive in a format where opponents start at 40 life and threats scale accordingly.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.13 bulk tier
At $0.13, Cruel Sadist is deep bulk — a pickup that costs less than a sleeve. Don't expect the price to move; niche Commander demand isn't enough to push a card this narrow out of the bulk bin.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.