Instigator
Creature — Human Spellshaper
, 
, Discard a card: Creatures target player controls attack this turn if able.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Mercadian Masques
- Price
- $0.40
- EDHREC rank
- #28142
Instigator forces each opponent to put a creature into play attacking you — a political powder keg that fills the board with threats aimed at your face while potentially destabilizing opponent alliances. The payoff only makes sense if you have a reason to want those attackers to arrive, whether that's a death-trigger engine, a pillow-fort that laughs at combat, or a way to steal or punish what swings in.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Instigator is a pure politics and engine card — it does nothing on its own and everything in the right shell, rewarding decks that convert incoming attackers into value through sacrifice outlets, enrage triggers, or fog effects. Legacy and Vintage both allow it, but neither format has any interest in a five-mana do-nothing enchantment in a singleton-agnostic context where faster, more consistent threats dominate. Oathbreaker is legal but shares Commander's singleton structure, so the same logic applies: Instigator needs a commander-level payoff to justify its slot. Across every legal format, this is a Commander card through and through.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.40 bulk tier
At $0.40, Instigator sits firmly in bulk territory — easy to pick up as a throw-in and unlikely to spike given its narrow appeal. Bulk rares with niche Commander applications tend to stay cheap unless a breakout commander pushes demand, so don't expect the price to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.