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Inspiring Refrain

Sorcery

Draw two cards. Exile Inspiring Refrain with three time counters on it.
Suspend 3—{2}{U} (Rather than cast this card from your hand, you may pay {2}{U} and exile it with three time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)

CMC
6
Mana cost
{4}{U}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
Doctor Who
Price
$0.34
EDHREC rank
#3792
Buy on TCGplayer
Inspiring Refrain card art
Inspiring Refrain puts two 1/1 Bird tokens onto the battlefield at end of turn — then suspends itself to do it again, and again, every two turns after that. The upfront cost is steep enough that it earns a slot only in decks that care about the suspend counters themselves or are desperate for a repeating token engine in blue; The Tenth Doctor // Rose Tyler and Alaundo the Seer are the clearest homes.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
The Tenth DoctorRose Tyler

The Tenth Doctor // Rose Tyler

93.3% of decks · synergy 0.90

Inspiring Refrain is in 93% of The Tenth Doctor // Rose Tyler decks for good reason — every time a suspend counter comes off, The Tenth Doctor triggers, and a card that re-suspends itself generates that trigger every single turn cycle on autopilot.

02
Alaundo the Seer

Alaundo the Seer

64.0% of decks · synergy 0.63

Alaundo the Seer removes time counters from suspended cards whenever you cycle, so Inspiring Refrain can fire far ahead of schedule and then immediately re-suspend to start the loop over, producing a near-continuous stream of Birds.

03
Obeka, Splitter of Seconds

Obeka, Splitter of Seconds

57.4% of decks · synergy 0.55

Obeka, Splitter of Seconds manipulates end steps, and Inspiring Refrain's trigger lands at end of turn — Obeka can redirect or duplicate that step, turning what's already a repeating engine into a token flood.

04
Jhoira of the Ghitu

Jhoira of the Ghitu

45.4% of decks · synergy 0.44

Jhoira of the Ghitu puts time counters on cards herself, and a deck built around waiting out suspend timers treats Inspiring Refrain as reliable board presence that pays for its patience every other turn.

05
Kellan, the Kid

Kellan, the Kid

36.9% of decks · synergy 0.36

Kellan, the Kid cares about casting noncreature spells to generate value, and Inspiring Refrain's re-cast trigger each time it comes off suspend keeps feeding that engine without requiring additional mana investment.

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

Inspiring Refrain is a Commander card through and through — the suspend-matters synergies it plugs into simply don't exist at the same density anywhere else, and multiplayer games give it enough turns to pay back the tempo cost. In Legacy and Vintage, where it's technically legal, a three-mana sorcery that makes two 1/1s and takes two turns to recur is nowhere near the power threshold; those formats won't touch it. Oathbreaker offers the same suspend-synergy shells in miniature, so the card is playable there in the right list, but the smaller deck size and faster games narrow its window.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

669 decks
Alaundo the SeerChakram RetrieverInspiring RefrainVenture ForthReality Strobe

Alaundo the SeerChakram RetrieverInspiring RefrainVenture ForthReality Strobe

Cast a portion of the cards in your library and hand without paying their mana costs; Near-infinite card draw; Near-infinite draw triggers; Near-infinite magecraft triggers; Near-infinite storm count; Return most permanents you don't control to their owner's hand; Mass Land Denial

View on Commander Spellbook ↗
119 decks
Alaundo the SeerChakram RetrieverCyclical EvolutionVenture ForthInspiring Refrain

Alaundo the SeerChakram RetrieverCyclical EvolutionVenture ForthInspiring Refrain

Cast a portion of the cards in your library and hand without paying their mana costs; Infinite card draw; Infinite draw triggers; Near-infinitely large creatures until end of turn; Near-infinite magecraft triggers; Near-infinite storm count

View on Commander Spellbook ↗
113 decks
Alaundo the SeerChakram RetrieverCyclical EvolutionInspiring RefrainReality Strobe

Alaundo the SeerChakram RetrieverCyclical EvolutionInspiring RefrainReality Strobe

Cast a portion of the cards in your library and hand without paying their mana costs; Near-infinite card draw; Near-infinite draw triggers; Near-infinitely large creatures until end of turn; Near-infinite magecraft triggers; Near-infinite storm count; Return most permanents you don't control to their owner's hand; Mass Land Denial

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

$0.34 bulk tier

At $0.34, Inspiring Refrain is bulk — cheap enough to throw into any suspect suspend build without a second thought. Demand is almost entirely Commander-driven and concentrated in a narrow slice of the format, so the price is unlikely to move meaningfully in either direction.

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Sources

Mentioned

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