Crypsis
Instant
Target creature you control gains protection from creatures your opponents control until end of turn. Untap it.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Born of the Gods
- Price
- $0.11
- EDHREC rank
- #16773
Crypsis makes one of your creatures unblockable and untaps it for a single blue mana — the untap clause is the reason to run it, letting an attacking creature dodge blockers and still hold up as a blocker or activate a tap ability at the end of combat. It's a narrow combat trick that earns its slot only in decks that need exactly that combination of evasion and untap on demand.
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 |
In Commander, Crypsis finds its clearest home in decks that exploit tap abilities on attacking creatures — think Voltron commanders that need to push through and untap for a mana ability, or anything built around Merfolk or creature-tap synergies. In Pauper, the untap effect has seen occasional fringe play in combo shells that chain untaps for mana or card effects, though dedicated untap pieces usually outclass it. Across Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer, Crypsis is too narrow and slow for the pace of those formats — one-mana combat tricks need to either generate card advantage or close games, and this does neither at that level of competition.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.11 bulk tier
At $0.11, Crypsis is deep bulk — you'll find copies in any common box or pick it up as a throwaway in a bulk lot. That price is stable by definition: there's no demand spike coming for a narrow combat trick, so grab it for pennies whenever a deck calls for it and don't think twice.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.