Mana Leak
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 
.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Arena League 2002
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #1669
Mana Leak stops almost anything on turn two or three, when opponents simply cannot pay three extra mana, and the two-mana cost is low enough that you keep interaction up while still developing your own board. Past the midgame it loses teeth, but Baral, Chief of Compliance brings it down to one mana and turns every counter into a loot — at that point the late-game liability nearly disappears.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Baral, Chief of Compliance
Baral, Chief of Compliance reduces Mana Leak to a single blue mana and replaces itself with a loot on resolution, making it one of the most efficient interactive spells in the deck rather than a card you cut when the game goes long.
Talrand, Sky Summoner
Talrand, Sky Summoner turns every instant into a 2/2 Drake, so Mana Leak pulls double duty — it stops a threat and puts a body in the air at the same time, feeding the token engine without any additional setup.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Edric, Spymaster of Trest decks want to land evasive attackers on curve and then hold up cheap interaction to protect them; Mana Leak fits cleanly into that two-mana protection role during the critical early turns when the deck is assembling its draw engine.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV taxes opponents' spells while reducing the cost of your own, which means Mana Leak can come down for zero or one mana in a deck where opponents are already struggling to pay for anything — the tax stacking makes the three-generic rider on Mana Leak significantly harder to meet.
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, Mana Leak is a solid early-game counterspell that trades relevance for accessibility — it's cheap, widely available, and does real work before opponents accumulate enough mana to pay out. In Pauper it's a format staple, one of the best common counterspells in the card pool and a fixture in any blue tempo or control shell. Modern has pushed past it — Counterspell is legal there now and Mana Leak sits in the tier below, though it still sees fringe play in budget builds and the tax is meaningful on turn two. Legacy and Vintage have so many superior options that Mana Leak doesn't register competitively, but it's technically legal in both.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Mana Leak has been reprinted extensively across multiple product lines, which keeps it cheap and easy to find — expect to pay well under a dollar for a copy in any printing. At that price point there's no reason to shop around; just grab whichever version matches your deck's aesthetic and move on.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.