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Psychic Battle

Enchantment

Whenever a player chooses one or more targets, each player reveals the top card of their library. The player who reveals the card with the greatest mana value may change the target or targets. If two or more cards are tied for greatest, the target or targets remain unchanged. Changing targets this way doesn't trigger abilities of permanents named Psychic Battle.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{U}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
Invasion
Price
$1.11
EDHREC rank
#16958
Buy on TCGplayer
Psychic Battle card art
Psychic Battle turns every targeting decision into a reveal-and-compare gamble, locking out opponents whose hands run low while rewarding decks built to spike the contest on demand. The catch is a five-mana enchantment that does nothing the turn it lands and folds to any enchantment removal — run it only if you can guarantee a consistent card-count advantage, which is exactly why Idris, Soul of the TARDIS makes it sing.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Psychic Battle is a Commander card through and through — the chaotic, multiplayer environment gives it repeated triggers across multiple opponents' turns, and the political tension of watching everyone's hand size matters far more at a four-player table than in a duel. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but unplayable; those formats move too fast and too consistently for a five-mana do-nothing enchantment to survive, let alone matter. Oathbreaker is the one other format where it has theoretical legs, assuming your planeswalker and signature spell generate enough card advantage to keep your hand stocked.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$1.11 cheap tier

At $1.11, Psychic Battle sits in the bulk-rare tier — cheap enough to pick up on a whim, and the low price reflects its narrow application rather than any power-level ceiling. Demand is unlikely to spike it significantly unless a high-profile commander build puts it on the map, so the price is stable but not a sleeper.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.