MagicTheGathering.fyi

Flicker

Sorcery

Exile target nontoken permanent, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{1}{W}
Color identity
W
Rarity
rare
Set
Urza's Destiny
Price
$6.28
EDHREC rank
#10652
Buy on TCGplayer
Flicker card art
Flicker exiles a permanent you control and returns it to the battlefield — resetting enters-the-battlefield triggers, clearing negative auras, and dodging targeted removal all on one card. The cost is the real issue: two mana at instant speed is fair, but the effect being limited to your own permanents and restricted to Dihada, Binder of Wills or similar legendary-matters shells is what keeps it from being a staple.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Dihada, Binder of Wills

Dihada, Binder of Wills

23.1% of decks · synergy 0.22

Dihada, Binder of Wills cares about legendary permanents, and Flicker lets you re-trigger any legendary creature's ETB while also protecting your most important pieces from removal in response to Dihada's own abilities.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Flicker sees essentially all of its play in Commander, where ETB triggers are the currency of the format and protecting a key creature at instant speed is worth two mana. Legacy and Vintage both allow it, but those formats have access to far more efficient blink effects — Flickerwisp, Ephemerate — that Flicker simply can't compete with. It's not legal in Modern, Pioneer, Standard, or Pauper, which cuts off the budget-conscious formats where its low mana cost might otherwise matter. In Oathbreaker it's technically playable, but the smaller deck size and faster pace make consistent ETB engines harder to assemble around it.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

663 decks
Preston, the VanisherFelidar GuardianFlicker

Preston, the VanisherFelidar GuardianFlicker

Infinite LTB; Infinite ETB; Infinite creature tokens; Infinite landfall triggers; Infinite blinking of permanents; Infinite mana lands you control that enter the battlefield untapped can produce; Exile all nonland permanents opponents control; Infinite mana lands you control can produce

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Ephemerate does the same job for one mana and rebound gives you a second activation for free, making it the default upgrade if your budget opens up. If you want to stay cheap, Cloudshift is a direct one-mana substitute that loses the rebound but otherwise replicates Flicker's effect exactly — the only real trade-off versus Flicker itself is paying one less mana at the cost of no functional difference in most scenarios.

Price Context

Current price

$6.28 mid tier

At $6.28, Flicker sits in the mid tier — expensive for a card with this narrow a use case and real competition from cheaper alternatives. It's an old printing with limited reprint history, which explains the price, but that doesn't make it good value when Cloudshift costs pennies and Ephemerate does more for under a dollar.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.