Involuntary Employment
Sorcery
Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn. Create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "
, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.")
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Foundations
- Price
- $0.17
- EDHREC rank
- #6343
Involuntary Employment steals a creature until end of turn and replaces itself with a card draw — all for three mana at instant speed. Zidane, Tantalus Thief and Dual Casting both turn that single spell into a repeatable engine, but even without support the floor of drawing a card makes this nearly impossible to run at a loss.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Zidane, Tantalus Thief
Zidane, Tantalus Thief triggers off casting noncreature spells, so Involuntary Employment both fires Zidane's ability and refills your hand — double value from one card at instant speed.
Zada, Hedron Grinder
Zada, Hedron Grinder copies target-one-creature spells onto every creature you control, meaning Involuntary Employment can temporarily steal your entire opponents' boards if you have enough tokens in play.
Ziatora, the Incinerator
Involuntary Employment hands Ziatora, the Incinerator a stolen creature to fling at end of turn, converting a temporary theft into a permanent kill and three Treasure tokens.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Involuntary Employment earns its keep — three-mana instant-speed theft plus a cantrip is exactly the kind of effect multiplayer tables reward, and it never fully telegraphs a threat the way a permanent would. In Constructed formats like Modern and Pioneer it's too low-impact to compete; a three-mana spell that trades a creature only until end of turn without disrupting the battlefield permanently gets outpaced by the format's removal suite. Pauper is the one non-Commander home worth watching, where commons that cantrip and interact at instant speed hold real value and the power ceiling is low enough that temporary theft matters.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.17 bulk tier
At $0.17, Involuntary Employment sits firmly in bulk territory — you're paying for the effect, not the cardboard. Bulk cantrip-removal hybrids rarely spike unless a synergy commander goes viral, so don't expect appreciation, but at this price there's no reason not to pick up a copy.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.