Hypnotic Grifter
Creature — Human Rogue
: This creature connives. (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Streets of New Capenna
- Price
- $0.09
- EDHREC rank
- #22058
Hypnotic Grifter trades one mana and a loot to strip a card from an opponent's hand at random — slow, but the repeatable threat of activation adds real decision pressure. The problem is that one-mana activations add up, and random discard rarely hits the card you needed gone.
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 |
Hypnotic Grifter is a Commander card — the multiplayer table multiplies its value, since activating once can strip a key piece from whichever opponent is most threatening at that moment. In 1v1 formats like Legacy, Modern, or Pioneer, random discard is too underpowered and too slow compared to targeted hand disruption, so it doesn't see play there. Vintage has better options at every point on the curve. Commander is the one home where the loot upside, the political flexibility of choosing targets, and the low floor of a 1/1 body all become acceptable trade-offs.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.09 bulk tier
At $0.09, Hypnotic Grifter is deep bulk — you're paying almost nothing for a card with a real, if narrow, role. Bulk rares don't appreciate without a format breakout, and there's no evidence of one here, so treat this as a cheap pickup for the specific deck that wants it, not a spec.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.