Sip of Hemlock
Sorcery
Destroy target creature. Its controller loses 2 life.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Theros
- Price
- $0.05
- EDHREC rank
- #27455
Sip of Hemlock kills any creature outright and drains two life — removal and reach stapled together. Six mana is steep, and that cost keeps it out of competitive lists, but the effect is clean and unconditional.
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 |
Sip of Hemlock is a Pauper-legal common, and that's the one format where it sees any real consideration — the card pool is shallow enough that six-mana unconditional removal earns a second look. In Commander, the price tag is too high when Doom Blade, Go for the Throat, and their ilk cost a fraction and leave mana open for interaction. Competitive and midrange Commander lists have no reason to run it, though budget mono-black builds looking to round out removal slots will find it functional. Everywhere else — Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage — faster and cheaper answers make Sip of Hemlock irrelevant.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.05 bulk tier
At $0.05, Sip of Hemlock is pure bulk — you're not buying it so much as finding it in a trade binder. That price reflects its narrow competitive ceiling, and there's no reason to expect it to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.