Keen-Eared Sentry
Creature — Human Soldier
You have hexproof. (You can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.)
Each opponent can't venture into the dungeon more than once each turn.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
- Price
- $0.18
- EDHREC rank
- #19196
Keen-Eared Sentry shuts off activated abilities from nonland permanents your opponents control while it's on the battlefield — a potent stax effect stapled to a three-mana 2/3. The cost is that it's symmetrical and fragile, so it earns its slot only in dedicated stax shells that can exploit the lockout more than opponents can.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Keen-Eared Sentry is a stax piece that punches above its mana cost in the right shell — shutting off mana dorks, sacrifice outlets, and planeswalker abilities across three opponents compounds fast. In competitive Modern and Legacy, the effect is too slow on a fragile body; dedicated hate pieces like Pithing Needle do the same job at one mana without the symmetry risk. Pioneer sees occasional fringe stax interest, but again, the three-mana ask is steep when faster hate exists. Oathbreaker can exploit it more readily since planeswalker-heavy metas make the activated-ability lockout genuinely punishing.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.18 bulk tier
At $0.18, Keen-Eared Sentry is firmly bulk — easy to pick up as a throw-in or grab a playset without thinking twice. Its price is unlikely to move meaningfully unless stax strategies spike in Commander popularity, so treat it as a cheap role-player to slot in now rather than a spec.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.