Shadow Slice
Sorcery
Target opponent loses 3 life.
Cipher (Then you may exile this spell card encoded on a creature you control. Whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, its controller may cast a copy of the encoded card without paying its mana cost.)
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Gatecrash
- Price
- $0.06
- EDHREC rank
- #22048
Shadow Slice makes an opponent lose 3 life and you gain 3 — six points of effective life swing for three mana at instant speed. Serviceable in Pauper life-drain strategies, but in Commander it's strictly outclassed by cards that do the same job at two mana or hit every opponent at once.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Pauper, Shadow Slice earns its slot in mono-black drain shells where repeated life-loss triggers matter and the card pool is constrained enough that three-mana drains are competitive. In Commander, the math kills it — paying three mana to drain one opponent for 3 is card disadvantage against a table of four, and spells like Syphon Mind or Gray Merchant of Asphodel do far more work in the same shell. Across Legacy, Vintage, and Modern, Shadow Slice is simply too slow and too low-impact to see play when faster, more powerful options exist at the same or lower cost.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.06 bulk tier
At $0.06, Shadow Slice is deep bulk — you're picking it out of a commons box, not buying it. That price will hold, though not because of demand; it's a floor that reflects near-zero competitive interest.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.