Expel the Unworthy
Sorcery
Kicker 
(You may pay an additional as you cast this spell.)
Choose target creature with mana value 3 or less. If this spell was kicked, instead choose target creature. Exile the chosen creature, then its controller gains life equal to its mana value.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Modern Horizons 3
- Price
- $0.07
- EDHREC rank
- #22192
Expel the Unworthy puts a nonland permanent on the bottom of its owner's library — not the graveyard — for three mana at instant speed, which shuts off recursion and dodges indestructible cleanly. The cost is real: three mana for single-target removal is a crowded bracket, and library-bottom displacement, while strong, rarely matters more than outright exile.
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, Expel the Unworthy earns its slot in white decks that care about denying graveyard recursion, since sending a threat to the bottom of a 99-card library is functionally permanent removal. In Pauper it competes at common with Path to Exile and Ossification, both of which deal with threats more efficiently, so Expel the Unworthy sees almost no play there. Legacy and Vintage have no interest — the format speed makes three mana an unacceptable ask for single-target removal regardless of the effect. Oathbreaker mirrors Commander's reasoning: it's a live answer to commanders and planeswalkers that shrugs off indestructible and graveyard-based resilience.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.07 bulk tier
At $0.07, Expel the Unworthy is bulk — pick up a copy whenever you're filling out a white removal suite without thinking about it. Bulk commons and uncommons at this price point don't move on gameplay merit alone, so expect it to stay in this tier indefinitely.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.