Daring Apprentice
Creature — Human Wizard
, Sacrifice this creature: Counter target spell.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Mirage
- Price
- $0.59
- EDHREC rank
- #16540
Daring Apprentice gives you a repeatable, instant-speed counterspell stapled to a 1/1 body — the catch is that activating it costs you the creature itself. The tap-and-sacrifice requirement makes this strictly a one-shot effect dressed up as a permanent, which puts it well below the bar for any deck not built to abuse enters-the-battlefield triggers or sacrifice payoffs.
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 |
In Commander, Daring Apprentice occupies the fringe of blue creature-based control packages — it sees occasional play in Venser, Shaper Savant blink shells or Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver-style sacrifice decks where the body generating a free counter before dying is the whole point. In Legacy and Vintage, a three-mana 1/1 with a one-time, tap-to-sacrifice counter is simply not competitive when Force of Will and Flusterstorm exist. Daring Apprentice is functionally a Commander-only card, and even there it needs a specific shell to justify the slot.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.59 bulk tier
At $0.59, Daring Apprentice is deep bulk — you're paying for the niche utility, not scarcity. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to move without a high-profile reprint or a new commander that makes sacrifice-a-creature-to-counter effects suddenly desirable.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.