Disdainful Stroke
Instant
Counter target spell with mana value 4 or greater.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archive
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #2456
Disdainful Stroke answers the threats that actually win games — planeswalkers, commanders, finishers, game-winning spells — for a single blue mana. In a format where nearly every problem card costs four or more, it catches more than it misses, and in spell-heavy builds like Baral, Chief of Compliance it even replaces itself.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Baral, Chief of Compliance
Baral, Chief of Compliance's looting trigger fires every time a spell is countered, so Disdainful Stroke isn't just interaction — it's card selection, making it a near-universal inclusion in Baral builds at nearly 46% of decks.
Talrand, Sky Summoner
Talrand, Sky Summoner converts every instant and sorcery into a 2/2 Drake token, so Disdainful Stroke pulls double duty as both a hard answer to high-impact threats and a free body entering the battlefield alongside it.
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 |
Commander is where Disdainful Stroke is most at home — the average spell on a Commander table costs four or more, which means the coverage window is enormous and you're almost never holding a blank. In competitive 60-card formats like Modern and Pioneer, the picture shifts: threats cluster at two and three mana, opponents can sculpt their curve to dodge the restriction, and there are cleaner options available. Legacy and Vintage have Force of Will and Counterspell, pushing Disdainful Stroke out entirely in those formats. Pauper is the one 60-card exception worth noting, where expensive payoffs are common enough that it sees occasional sideboard play against ramp and control.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Disdainful Stroke has been reprinted frequently enough that copies are typically available for well under a dollar, making it one of the most cost-efficient pieces of interaction in the format. At that price, there's no reason to run an inferior counterspell instead.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.