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Rootha, Mercurial Artist

Legendary Creature — Orc Shaman

{2}, Return Rootha to its owner's hand: Copy target instant or sorcery spell you control. You may choose new targets for the copy.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{1}{U}{R}
Color identity
RU
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Secrets of Strixhaven Commander
Price
$0.29
EDHREC rank
#13669
Buy on TCGplayer
Rootha, Mercurial Artist card art
Rootha, Mercurial Artist copies any instant or sorcery you control for the cost of returning her to your hand — free recursion built into the copy effect, which means you're rarely paying more than one card to double your best spell. Increasing Vengeance already doubles spells; Rootha does it on a body that resets itself, and Rootha, Mastering the Moment exists precisely to exploit that loop.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Rootha, Mastering the Moment

Rootha, Mastering the Moment

23.5% of decks · synergy 0.23

Rootha, Mastering the Moment untaps lands after casting noncreature spells, so bouncing Rootha, Mercurial Artist back to hand costs nothing meaningful — the mana refunds itself, and you're left with a copy engine you can fire every turn for effectively zero net resources.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Rootha, Mercurial Artist is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but Commander is the only format where she sees real play. In 60-card formats, a two-mana 1/4 that requires you to already control an instant or sorcery is too conditional and too slow relative to dedicated copy spells. Commander is where the math works: the self-bounce clause turns her into a reusable copy effect across a long game, and she pairs cleanly with high-value sorceries that would otherwise be one-shot plays.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.29 bulk tier

At $0.29, Rootha, Mercurial Artist is bulk — easy to pick up as a throw-in or cheap addition to any Izzet pile. Bulk rares with genuine Commander utility tend to stay in this range unless a specific combo pushes demand, so don't expect movement, but there's no reason to hesitate at this price.

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Sources

Mentioned

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