Lose Hope
Instant
Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. Scry 2. (Look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom and the rest on top in any order.)
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Fifth Dawn
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #21814
Lose Hope targets a creature — and in most contexts that means it draws you a card and scries 1 for one black mana, which is already a fine rate for card selection in black. Slot it into a Horobi, Death's Wail deck and the targeting clause kills the creature outright, turning a cheap cantrip into removal plus selection for a single mana.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Horobi, Death's Wail
Horobi, Death's Wail makes any targeting effect into a kill spell, so Lose Hope becomes one-mana removal that replaces itself with a scry and a draw — that combination of efficiency and card selection is exactly why it shows up in over a quarter of Horobi lists.
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, Lose Hope is a Horobi, Death's Wail enabler first and a budget cantrip second — outside that specific shell, one-mana scry-1-draw-1 effects rarely justify a deck slot when black has stronger options. In Pauper, the card selection is more meaningful since cantrips are harder to come by at common, and the creature-targeting clause occasionally lines up against small utility creatures. Legacy and Vintage have access to far more powerful one-mana interaction, so Lose Hope doesn't compete in those formats outside niche builds. It's legal in Modern but sees no real play there.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Lose Hope is deep bulk — buy a playset for less than a dollar and don't think twice about it. Bulk commons with narrow synergy don't appreciate, so grab it for the Horobi deck and move on.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.