Paradox Surveyor
Creature — Elf Druid
Reach
When this creature enters, look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a land card or a card with 
in its mana cost from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- GU
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #24190
Paradox Surveyor lets you scry 3 whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand — repeatably, at instant speed, stacked across every non-hand cast in a turn. The cost is building around it: the effect is negligible in a vacuum and demands a shell that consistently casts from exile, graveyard, or the top of the library.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Paradox Surveyor is a Commander card almost by definition — the format's longer games and commander-centric engines (impulse draw, cascade, flashback, suspend) create the density of non-hand casts needed to make repeated scry 3 meaningful. In 60-card formats like Modern and Pioneer, the effect is too slow and too conditional to compete with cantrips or card selection spells that cost one mana and draw immediately. Legacy and Vintage have the raw power to abuse non-hand casting, but Paradox Surveyor's three-mana body offers nothing those formats can't get cheaper and faster elsewhere. Oathbreaker sits closer to Commander in terms of game length and commander interaction, so the same impulse-draw and spellslinger loops that work there apply — it's viable but niche.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Paradox Surveyor is deep bulk — a throw-in card you pick up without thinking about the price. It won't hold or gain value, but that's irrelevant: if the right shell exists in your deck, the slot costs less than a pack of gum.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.