Expel from Orazca
Instant
Ascend (If you control ten or more permanents, you get the city's blessing for the rest of the game.)
Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. If you have the city's blessing, you may put that permanent on top of its owner's library instead.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Rivals of Ixalan
- Price
- $0.21
- EDHREC rank
- #10216
Expel from Orazca puts a nonland permanent on top of its owner's library — removal that doesn't go to the graveyard and sets up the next draw step as a dead one. The Ascend condition is trivially met in Commander, so this is a clean two-mana bounce with a real punishment attached, and Haldan, Avid Arcanist // Pako, Arcane Retriever decks treat the card exile-and-cast angle as a reason to care deeply about what opponents put on top of their libraries.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Haldan, Avid Arcanist // Pako, Arcane Retriever
Pako exiles cards from opponents' libraries face down, and Haldan, Avid Arcanist // Pako, Arcane Retriever can cast them — so Expel from Orazca functions as both interaction and setup, putting a threat back on top of an opponent's deck where Pako can snag it on the next attack.
Rashmi and Ragavan
Rashmi and Ragavan rewards casting spells and manipulating the top of libraries, and Expel from Orazca feeds that engine by dictating what an opponent draws next — or denying them a live draw entirely while trading up on a threat.
Etrata, Deadly Fugitive
Etrata, Deadly Fugitive cares about cards being exiled from opponents' libraries, and Expel from Orazca sets the top of the library up as a target for any follow-up exile effect while cleanly handling a blocker or problematic permanent at instant speed.
Xanathar, Guild Kingpin
Xanathar, Guild Kingpin locks opponents out of drawing by letting you play from the top of their libraries, and Expel from Orazca guarantees the top card is whatever permanent you just bounced — effectively nominating the card Xanathar will strand there all turn.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Expel from Orazca is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it's realistically a Commander card. In competitive eternal formats, two mana at sorcery speed to put a permanent on top of a library isn't close to the rate removal needs to be — Path to Exile and Fatal Push exist. Commander is where Expel from Orazca earns its slot: the city's blessing is free in a 40-life multiplayer game with ten permanents on board by turn four, and bouncing to the top rather than the hand punishes opponents by wasting their next draw. In Oathbreaker it functions similarly and is worth considering in any blue-black shell that cares about library manipulation.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.21 bulk tier
At $0.21, Expel from Orazca is bulk — you're paying for a functional card, not a scarce one. The price is stable because supply is high and demand is niche, so there's no reason to buy more than a single copy.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Haldan, Avid Arcanist // Pako, Arcane Retriever
- Rashmi and Ragavan
- Etrata, Deadly Fugitive
- Xanathar, Guild Kingpin
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.