Oath of Scholars
Enchantment
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player chooses target player who has more cards in hand than they do and is their opponent. The first player may discard their hand and draw three cards.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Exodus
- Price
- $0.42
- EDHREC rank
- #22325
Oath of Scholars forces each player with more cards in hand than you to discard down to your count at the beginning of their upkeep — a symmetry-punishing effect that rewards running lean while taxing greedy hand-refueling strategies. The catch is that it does nothing if you're ahead on cards, so it only earns its slot in decks that consistently stay at low hand size.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Oath of Scholars occupies a narrow niche: it punishes the draw-seven effects and hand-sculpting that define mid-to-high power tables, but only if your own hand stays small — a condition most blue decks actively work against. Legacy and Vintage have access to it, but the combination of faster threats and better hand-disruption in those formats makes it redundant at best. Oathbreaker shares Commander's multiplayer math, so the multi-target upside is theoretically present there too, though the compressed game length limits how often it triggers.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.42 bulk tier
At $0.42, Oath of Scholars is pure bulk — no barrier to experimenting with it in a dedicated low-hand-size build. Demand is too narrow for the price to move meaningfully in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.