Magus of the Scroll
Creature — Human Wizard
, 
: Choose a card name, then reveal a card at random from your hand. If that card has the chosen name, this creature deals 2 damage to any target.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Time Spiral
- Price
- $0.38
- EDHREC rank
- #27145
Magus of the Scroll turns a full grip into a repeatable, randomized direct-damage threat — but the randomness is the cost, and it's a steep one. If you can't control or shrink your hand size, the named-card requirement makes this unreliable enough to cut in most 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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Magus of the Scroll is a fringe include in dedicated hand-size-manipulation or discard-synergy decks — the randomness is too punishing in a format where you need answers on demand. In Legacy and Vintage it's essentially invisible; Cursed Scroll, the card this directly references, sees no meaningful play either, and the Magus adds a vulnerable body to an already slow effect. Modern has moved so far past one-damage activations that Magus of the Scroll never enters consideration. Oathbreaker is the one fringe case where a low-hand-size planeswalker commander might give it a narrow window, but even there better options exist.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.38 bulk tier
At $0.38, Magus of the Scroll is deep bulk — pick it up for pennies if a specific deck wants it. Demand is too narrow for the price to move meaningfully in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.