Dissection Practice
Instant
Target opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Up to one target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Up to one target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #20935
Dissection Practice kills a creature and draws you cards for doing it — the removal spell that replaces itself is exactly what black midrange and reanimator shells want. The cost is real: four mana at sorcery speed is slow, and the draw is gated on actually having a creature to target.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Horobi, Death's Wail
Horobi, Death's Wail turns every targeting effect into a kill, so Dissection Practice becomes a one-mana instant-speed edict the moment Horobi is on board — the targeting trigger kills the creature, and the spell still resolves to draw cards off the death.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Dissection Practice fills the role of a removal spell that doesn't cost you card equity, which is meaningful in a format where one-for-ones are punished. It won't win you a spot over Deadly Rollick or Snuff Out in competitive builds, but in mid-power pods that can't lean on free spells, four mana for a kill-plus-draw is a reasonable rate. In 60-card formats — Modern, Pioneer, Legacy — it's too slow and too conditional; those formats have cheap, unconditional removal that doesn't ask you to spend four mana at sorcery speed. Standard is the one non-Commander context where it might see fringe play if the format's removal suite is shallow enough to make the card draw upside worthwhile.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Dissection Practice is bulk — you're paying essentially nothing to slot it into a list. Bulk uncommons with narrow homes don't tend to move unless a breakout Commander deck pushes demand, so don't expect the price to change.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.