Dai Li Indoctrination
Sorcery — Lesson
Choose one —
• Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland permanent card from it. That player discards that card.
• Earthbend 2. (Target land you control becomes a 0/0 creature with haste that's still a land. Put two +1/+1 counters on it. When it dies or is exiled, return it to the battlefield tapped.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #13705
Dai Li Indoctrination steals a creature at the cost of tapping it each turn — you keep it as long as you can pay, and the moment you can't, it walks back. It's a repeatable theft effect with a built-in leash, which makes it strong in the right shell and a liability in the wrong one.
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 |
In Commander, Dai Li Indoctrination is a political and attrition tool — stealing a key creature from the most threatening opponent and turning it into a blocker or attacker changes board math in ways a simple removal spell can't. The mandatory tap clause matters most here: in a four-player game you'll often have enough mana to maintain it indefinitely, and losing the stolen creature on a missed payment is recoverable. In one-on-one formats like Legacy, Modern, or Pioneer, the ongoing mana investment is punishing — opponents can time their pressure to strand you without the mana to pay, making Dai Li Indoctrination far less reliable than a clean steal or bounce effect. Pauper players may find it as the most accessible repeatable theft at common, but the tap cost still limits its ceiling there.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Dai Li Indoctrination sits firmly in bulk territory — it costs nothing to pick up and nothing to lose if the deck moves in a different direction. Bulk enchantments with niche appeal rarely climb unless a commander pushes them into the spotlight, so don't expect movement.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.