Perplexing Chimera
Enchantment Creature — Chimera
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may exchange control of this creature and that spell. If you do, you may choose new targets for the spell. (If the spell becomes a permanent, you control that permanent.)
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Born of the Gods
- Price
- $2.24
- EDHREC rank
- #5263
Perplexing Chimera puts every opponent on notice: cast anything, and you might hand it over. The catch is symmetry — you're just as exposed as everyone else, which is why it belongs in a deck built to weaponize that trade, not merely survive it. Zedruu the Greathearted turns the Chimera into a gift engine, donating it away after swiping something worth keeping.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Zedruu the Greathearted
Zedruu the Greathearted is the definitive home for Perplexing Chimera — steal a spell, then donate the Chimera to an opponent so it keeps working for them while Zedruu draws cards and gains life off the permanent you now control.
Ian Malcolm, Chaotician
Ian Malcolm, Chaotician runs on chaos triggers and random outcomes, and Perplexing Chimera delivers exactly that — every spell cast at the table becomes a potential swap, feeding Ian's need for unpredictable board states.
Aminatou, the Fateshifter
Aminatou, the Fateshifter can blink Perplexing Chimera to reset its exchange trigger or dodge an unfavorable trade, giving the deck on-demand control over when the symmetry is actually symmetric.
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 |
Perplexing Chimera is a Commander card through and through — the political texture of a four-player game is where the threat of a swap carries real deterrence, and the ability to donate it via Zedruu the Greathearted or similar effects makes the symmetry one-sided in practice. In Legacy, Modern, or Pioneer, a five-mana 3/3 that requires your opponent to voluntarily cast spells into it is too slow and too passive to compete; constructed formats reward proactive threats, not reactive deterrents. Oathbreaker is the one other format where it sees occasional play, again in gift-based or chaos shells where the political angle still applies.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.24 cheap tier
At $2.24, Perplexing Chimera sits comfortably in the cheap tier — low enough that there's no reason to proxy it if you want the effect. It's a niche card with a loyal audience in Zedruu decks, so the price is stable rather than a bargain waiting to spike.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Zedruu the Greathearted
- Ian Malcolm, Chaotician
- Aminatou, the Fateshifter
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.