Sly Instigator
Creature — Human Wizard
, 
: Until your next turn, target creature an opponent controls can't be blocked. Goad that creature. (Until your next turn, that creature attacks each combat if able and attacks a player other than you if able.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
- Price
- $0.35
- EDHREC rank
- #10560
Sly Instigator hands your opponents a Treasure token and then punishes them for using it — every time a player cracks a Treasure, you draw a card. The cost is minimal for what's effectively a repeatable draw engine in any deck built around goading, gifting, or Treasure proliferation, and Firkraag, Cunning Instigator lists near-universally run it for exactly that reason.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Firkraag, Cunning Instigator
Firkraag, Cunning Instigator already wants opponents swinging at each other, and Sly Instigator extends that gameplan into the resource layer — hand out Treasures, watch them get spent in combat, draw cards off every crack.
Red Death, Shipwrecker
Red Death, Shipwrecker's kit leans hard on gifting permanents to opponents and then profiting when they use them, so Sly Instigator slotting in as a Treasure-distributor that draws cards the moment those Treasures get spent is a clean fit.
Jon Irenicus, Shattered One
Jon Irenicus, Shattered One specializes in donating creatures to opponents and punishing them for the privilege, and Sly Instigator extends the same donate-and-profit logic into mana rocks — a lower-synergy include but a coherent one.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Sly Instigator is a Commander card through and through — the politics of handing out Treasures and drawing off them only matter in a multiplayer game where you have three opponents to manipulate simultaneously. In Legacy and Vintage, where it's technically legal, the effect is far too slow and conditional to compete; nobody is building around a three-mana enchantment that requires opponents to crack Treasures before it does anything. Commander is the only format where Sly Instigator earns its slot, and even there it needs the right shell — goad decks, Treasure-gifting decks, or aristocrats strategies that generate Treasures at scale.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.35 bulk tier
At $0.35, Sly Instigator is pure bulk — easy to pick up in a trade binder or as a throw-in. Given its narrow but real home in Firkraag and Red Death builds, there's no reason to expect price movement in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.