Instill Energy
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can attack as though it had haste.
: Untap enchanted creature. Activate only during your turn and only once each turn.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- 30th Anniversary Edition
- Price
- $20.47
- EDHREC rank
- #5027
Instill Energy grants a creature haste and untap-every-upkeep on a single one-mana enchantment — two effects that other cards charge you separately for. In tap-to-win engines like Baba Lysaga, Night Witch and bounce loops with Cloudstone Curio, that combination is the difference between winning the turn your commander lands and waiting a full rotation to find out if you get to.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Baba Lysaga, Night Witch
Baba Lysaga, Night Witch taps herself to sacrifice permanents and draw cards, so the untap trigger on Instill Energy effectively doubles her output every turn — and the haste means she starts generating value the moment she hits the battlefield rather than sitting exposed for a full round.
Alaundo the Seer
Alaundo the Seer's ability triggers whenever he untaps, so Instill Energy converts every upkeep into an additional cascade effect; at one mana, it's the cheapest way to give Alaundo the Seer a second untap trigger on the turn he enters.
Selvala, Explorer Returned
Selvala, Explorer Returned taps for mana and cards, and Instill Energy turns that tap ability into a twice-per-turn engine — haste plus the upkeep untap means Selvala, Explorer Returned generates resources the turn she lands and again before opponents can act.
Yenna, Redtooth Regent
Yenna, Redtooth Regent copies Auras when she taps, so the upkeep untap from Instill Energy is a free additional copy trigger each turn; the haste clause means Yenna, Redtooth Regent doesn't have to survive a full rotation before she starts multiplying your enchantments.
Rosheen, Roaring Prophet
Rosheen, Roaring Prophet taps to add mana for X spells, and Instill Energy lets that tap happen twice — once on entry with haste, once after the upkeep untap — pushing the mana output of a single Rosheen, Roaring Prophet turn well above what opponents can prepare for.
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 |
Commander is where Instill Energy does its real work, stapled to commanders whose tap abilities are engine pieces rather than incidental value. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but irrelevant — those formats don't have commanders, and dedicated haste or untap effects are available on more efficient shells. Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper are all off the table. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander format where Instill Energy has a plausible home, since it shares Commander's singleton tap-commander structure and the one-mana cost is easy to absorb on the same turn as a low-cost planeswalker signature spell.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Yenna, Redtooth RegentInstill EnergyFaith Healer
Infinite lifegain; Infinite lifegain triggers; Infinite scry
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Yenna, Redtooth RegentInstill EnergyAuratog
Infinitely large creature until end of turn; Infinite scry
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Mazzy, Truesword PaladinInstill EnergySanctum WeaverAuratog
Infinite colored mana; Infinitely large creature until end of turn; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinite storm count; Infinite untap of creatures you control
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Freed from the Real attaches to any creature and untaps it on every upkeep the same way Instill Energy does, and it costs a fraction of the price — the trade-off is it doesn't grant haste, so you still need a separate enabler on the turn your creature enters. Thousand-Year Elixir runs about a dollar, covers the haste clause, and untaps the equipped creature once per turn; it costs one more mana than Instill Energy and is an artifact rather than an Aura, which matters in some synergy contexts but makes it harder to remove.
Price Context
Current price
$20.47 premium tier
At $20.47, Instill Energy sits in premium territory for a one-mana Aura with no direct reprint pressure keeping the price in check. It holds that price because the haste-plus-untap combination on a single card is genuinely rare and the demand from Baba Lysaga, Night Witch and Selvala, Explorer Returned decks is consistent — but if a reprint lands, the floor drops fast.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.