Manic Scribe
Creature — Human Wizard
When this creature enters, each opponent mills three cards.
Delirium — At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, that player mills three cards.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Shadows over Innistrad Remastered
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #9683
Manic Scribe mills three cards on entry and then keeps milling three each upkeep once delirium is active — for two mana, that's a repeating engine that most mill decks can switch on by turn four. With Bruvac the Grandiloquent on the board, every three-card mill becomes six, which makes the Scribe quietly one of the most mana-efficient threats in the archetype.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Bruvac the Grandiloquent
Bruvac the Grandiloquent doubles every mill trigger, so Manic Scribe's delirium upkeep ability goes from three cards to six — that's 42 cards a turn cycle across a four-player table before any other mill source touches the stack.
Phenax, God of Deception
Phenax, God of Deception turns creatures' toughness into mill, and Manic Scribe's delirium trigger stacks on top of that, giving the deck two independent mill vectors on a single two-drop body.
The Mindskinner
The Mindskinner cares about milling opponents repeatedly, and Manic Scribe's per-upkeep trigger feeds that loop without requiring any additional investment after delirium is online.
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind gets value from every creature that hits an opponent's graveyard, so Manic Scribe's sustained milling increases the odds of copying something relevant each turn.
Lord Xander, the Collector
Lord Xander, the Collector layers discard and mill pressure on opponents, and Manic Scribe's recurring trigger adds a consistent mill dimension that compounds the hand and library attrition Lord Xander already applies.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Manic Scribe is a Commander card — specifically a mill-strategy card — and that's where it does all of its work. In competitive Constructed formats like Modern and Pioneer it's too slow and too conditional; delirium requires graveyard setup that faster decks can ignore while killing you. Legacy and Vintage have no interest in a two-mana 1/3 that mills three when dedicated mill strategies there are either faster or nonexistent at the competitive level. Oathbreaker is the one other format where it's worth considering, but only in a dedicated mill shell built around a planeswalker like Jace, Memory Adept. Stick to Commander, and specifically to Dimir mill decks where the delirium condition is a minor constraint rather than a genuine obstacle.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Manic Scribe isn't currently available in this listing, so check Scryfall or your preferred vendor for the current market rate. As a non-mythic uncommon from a widely-opened set, it has historically sat well under a dollar and is worth picking up as a playset without much financial deliberation.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.