Hypnotic Specter
Creature — Specter
Flying
Whenever this creature deals damage to an opponent, that player discards a card at random.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Pro Tour Collector Set
- Price
- $5.99
- EDHREC rank
- #8474
Hypnotic Specter hits the board as a 2/2 flier that strips a random card from an opponent's hand every time it connects — and at three mana, that pressure starts early. Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal turns every one of those discarded cards into a body, which means Hypnotic Specter isn't just disruption, it's a token factory wearing a discard suit.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal
Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal creates a Bat token whenever an opponent discards a card, so every successful Hypnotic Specter attack generates both a hand strip and a free creature — the two effects stack into a punishing loop.
Tinybones, Trinket Thief
Tinybones, Trinket Thief draws a card and drains one life at end of turn whenever any opponent discarded that turn, and Hypnotic Specter is one of the most reliable attack-triggered discard outlets to keep that trigger firing.
Tinybones, Bauble Burglar
Tinybones, Bauble Burglar exiles discarded cards and can cast them, so Hypnotic Specter functions as a repeatable resource engine rather than pure disruption — opponents lose cards, Tinybones gains them.
Tinybones, the Pickpocket
Tinybones, the Pickpocket already wants opponents low on cards to maximize its own stolen-cast ability, and Hypnotic Specter accelerates that clock with a flier that threatens on turn three.
Tergrid, God of Fright
Tergrid, God of Fright puts every discarded card directly onto your battlefield, which means a single Hypnotic Specter combat step can hand you an opponent's best spell — repeated attacks compound that theft turn over turn.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Hypnotic Specter earns its slot in any black deck built around hand disruption or discard payoffs — the evasion is the key, since a 2/2 flier at three mana is genuinely hard to chump-block in the early turns when opponents' hands are fullest. Legacy and Vintage are formats where Hypnotic Specter was once a real threat, but the sheer speed and card efficiency available in those formats have long since left a three-mana 2/2 behind — you won't see it in any competitive lists. Modern is technically legal and similarly irrelevant; the card's power level is tuned to a slower era. Commander is where Hypnotic Specter lives, specifically in discard-matters builds where every hit compounds across three opponents instead of one.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Burglar Rat and Dauthi Voidwalker cover parts of what Hypnotic Specter does at lower price points — Burglar Rat forces a discard on entry for under $0.25, though it lacks the repeatable attack trigger and evasion that make Hypnotic Specter a sustained threat. If the goal is cheap, recursive hand disruption with evasion, Hypnotic Specter itself is already reasonably priced; the real trade-off with substitutes is losing the consistent per-attack trigger that discard-payoff commanders demand.
Price Context
Current price
$5.99 mid tier
At $5.99, Hypnotic Specter sits in the mid tier — expensive enough to feel like a deliberate include, cheap enough that it belongs in any discard-focused Commander list without hesitation. Reprints have kept the price stable rather than climbing, so this is a buy-and-forget pickup rather than a card to chase on a dip.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal
- Tinybones, Trinket Thief
- Tinybones, Bauble Burglar
- Tinybones, the Pickpocket
- Tergrid, God of Fright
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.