Merciless Resolve
Instant
As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature or land.
Draw two cards.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Shadows over Innistrad
- Price
- $0.05
- EDHREC rank
- #18365
Merciless Resolve draws two cards for two mana — the catch is sacrificing a permanent or discarding a land, which flips from cost to advantage in the right shell. Outside of decks that actively want things in the graveyard or have excess lands to pitch, it's a strict downgrade from Cathartic Reunion or Altar's Reap.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Merciless Resolve is a bulk common in every format that matters, and that context shapes where it actually sees play. In Commander, it earns a slot in sacrifice-value decks — Meren of Clan Nel Toth, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, and similar commanders treat the sacrificed permanent as a trigger, not a cost. In Pauper it has more competition from cleaner draw spells, but graveyard-centric lists sometimes prefer the flexibility of pitching a creature over straight cycling. Everywhere else — Modern, Pioneer, Legacy — Merciless Resolve is simply outclassed and doesn't show up in serious lists.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.05 bulk tier
At $0.05, Merciless Resolve is deep bulk — the kind of card you pull from a common box rather than purchase outright. There's no price floor to speak of, and reprint risk is irrelevant at this price point; just grab it whenever you're sleeving up a sacrifice deck.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.