Hall Monitor
Creature — Lizard Shaman
Haste
, 
: Target creature can't block this turn.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Strixhaven: School of Mages
- Price
- $0.19
- EDHREC rank
- #16220
Hall Monitor gives you a one-mana repeatable way to tap any target creature — activated at instant speed, before blockers, before attacks resolve. The cost is negligible; the control it grants over a single threat each turn is the whole point.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Gev, Scaled Scorch
Gev, Scaled Scorch rewards you for dealing damage to creatures, and Hall Monitor's tap ability sets up that damage by keeping blockers off the table — letting Gev's triggers fire consistently while your opponent's board sits neutralized.
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 |
In Commander, Hall Monitor occupies a quiet utility slot: one mana to deploy, zero mana to activate on subsequent turns if you jump through the untap hoop, and persistent access to a tap effect that scales with how threatening your opponents' boards get. Competitive formats like Legacy and Modern have cleaner answers at one mana, so it rarely makes the cut there — but the card is legal and occasionally shows up in creature-heavy combo decks that want soft interaction without spending removal slots. Pioneer offers a similar story: legal but underpowered relative to the format's pace. Hall Monitor's real home is the 100-card format, where a repeatable tap effect at low opportunity cost consistently earns its slot.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.19 bulk tier
At $0.19, Hall Monitor is deep bulk — pick it up without thinking twice. Bulk commons and uncommons at this price tier rarely appreciate, but this one doesn't need to; you're buying it to play it, not hold it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.