Cryptic Serpent
Creature — Serpent
This spell costs 
less to cast for each instant and sorcery card in your graveyard.
- CMC
- 7
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Game Night 2019
- Price
- $0.76
- EDHREC rank
- #16981
Cryptic Serpent is a 6/5 that routinely costs two or three mana in any deck running a healthy density of instants and sorceries. It doesn't do anything beyond being a large, cheap body — but in spellslinger builds, that's exactly the deal.
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 |
Cryptic Serpent is most at home in Commander spellslinger decks — Arclight Phoenix and Goblin Dark-Dwellers strategies naturally fill the graveyard with instants and sorceries, letting the Serpent land on turn three or four for one or two mana. In Pauper it's a legitimate threat in Delver-style tempo shells where common card quality is limited and a 6/5 at common for two mana closes games fast. Modern and Legacy have cheaper, more versatile threats that do more work, so Cryptic Serpent doesn't see serious play there. Pioneer sits in the same boat — the card was legal but never broke through against more efficient options.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.76 bulk tier
At $0.76, Cryptic Serpent is bulk, and it's likely to stay there — it's a one-dimensional card with no combo ceiling and no scarcity driving demand. You're buying it for the stat line, not for any future spike.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.