Lay Bare
Instant
Counter target spell. Look at its controller's hand.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Price
- $0.08
- EDHREC rank
- #23526
Lay Bare counters a spell and forces the caster to reveal their hand — both effects on one card at three mana. It's outclassed by cheaper counterspells in most contexts, but the hand information is real enough to make it worth a slot in dedicated control or tempo builds.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Lay Bare sits in the middle tier of counterspells — three mana is acceptable, and stripping hidden information from an opponent is genuinely useful in a format where hands are private and threats come from all directions. It's not a staple, but control commanders that care about tempo and information, like Jeleva or Kess, can put the hand-reveal to work. In Pauper it's legal but rarely played, squeezed out by more efficient options at common. Legacy and Vintage have the same problem: three mana for a counterspell is too slow when Force of Will and Daze exist.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.08 bulk tier
At $0.08, Lay Bare is deep bulk — no reason to hesitate on buying a copy if you want it. Bulk commons rarely move unless a format shift pushes them to ubiquity, and nothing on the horizon does that for Lay Bare.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.