Insubordination
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
At the beginning of the end step of enchanted creature's controller, this Aura deals 2 damage to that player unless that creature attacked this turn.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Mercadian Masques
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #26438
Insubordination turns a creature into a liability — the enchanted creature's controller loses 2 life at the start of each of their upkeeps, and the creature can't attack or block. Three mana for a soft lock with a persistent drain is real, but fragile: any enchantment removal undoes the whole thing.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Insubordination is a niche political tool — you can neutralize a single threatening creature and slowly bleed its controller, which occasionally buys more goodwill than a hard removal spell. It sees occasional play in Pauper, where enchantment-based removal is a legitimate archetype and three life per turn cycle is meaningful damage. Legacy and Vintage are non-starters; the effect is too slow and too easily answered at those power levels. Oathbreaker is the one fringe home where taxing an opponent's early threat while your planeswalker accumulates loyalty can actually pull weight.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Insubordination is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not scarcity. It won't appreciate; there's no competitive demand and no shortage of similar effects, so grab it from a dollar bin and don't think twice about the cost.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.