Launch Mishap
Instant
Counter target creature or planeswalker spell. Create a 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature token with flying.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Jumpstart 2022
- Price
- $0.27
- EDHREC rank
- #13661
Launch Mishap counters a spell and puts it on the bottom of its owner's library instead of the graveyard — a meaningful upgrade over a standard counter in any meta where graveyard recursion is common. The cost is two mana at instant speed, which is competitive, but the real gate is the Artifact creature restriction: Leonardo da Vinci has to be on the battlefield for you to cast it.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci is the only legal commander for Launch Mishap, and in that 99 it pulls real weight — countering a threat while denying graveyard access disrupts both spell-based and recursion-heavy strategies in one efficient play.
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 |
Launch Mishap is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but in practice it's a Commander card through and through — the Artifact creature restriction means it's only castable when Leonardo da Vinci is in play, which is a condition that only exists in the Command Zone context. In Legacy and Vintage, the format's best counterspells have no such restriction, so Launch Mishap never competes there. In Commander, the graveyard-exile clause is genuinely relevant: it shuts off unearth, flashback, and reanimate lines that a standard counter would leave open. It's a niche card, but in the one shell where it's legal and contextually useful, it does something other counterspells don't.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.27 bulk tier
At $0.27, Launch Mishap is firmly bulk — no financial consideration needed when sleeving it up. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to move in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.