Erratic Mutation
Instant
Choose target creature. Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland card. That creature gets +X/-X until end of turn, where X is that card's mana value. Put all cards revealed this way on the bottom of your library in any order.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Planar Chaos
- Price
- $0.04
- EDHREC rank
- #28876
Erratic Mutation hits any creature or planeswalker at instant speed and sets its power and toughness to a random reveal — often a kill, sometimes a buff, never predictable. The variance is real, and in a format where reliable -X/-X removal exists, that coin-flip ceiling is hard to justify.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Erratic Mutation competes against a deep pool of instant-speed removal that doesn't gamble on a reveal, which is a tough spot to occupy in 100-card singleton. Pauper is where it sees the most legitimate use — the commons-only card pool thins the competition, and the instant speed plus permanent stat change can close off a threat that would otherwise survive. In Legacy and Vintage the card is legal but irrelevant; those formats demand precision, not randomness. Oathbreaker mirrors Commander's calculus: playable if you want the chaos, but not a first pick.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.04 bulk tier
At $0.04, Erratic Mutation is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard and nothing else. That price is stable simply because demand is low, not because it's secretly undervalued.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.