Stab
Instant
Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Foundations
- Price
- $0.17
- EDHREC rank
- #10778
Stab kills a tapped creature at instant speed for one black mana — the rate is as clean as removal gets at common. Outside of Maha, Its Feathers Night and other tap-matters builds, the restriction to tapped creatures narrows its range enough that it competes for slots against unconditional options.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Maha, Its Feathers Night
Maha, Its Feathers Night taps opposing creatures as a matter of course, turning Stab into a near-unconditional one-mana removal spell that slots cleanly into the engine.
Horobi, Death's Wail
Horobi, Death's Wail turns any targeting effect into a kill, but Stab still earns its slot as a cheap instant that handles tapped blockers before they untap and become harder to deal with.
Massacre Girl, Known Killer
Massacre Girl, Known Killer wants cheap removal that kills on a curve, and Stab's one-mana cost means it clears a tapped creature without interrupting the -1/-1 counter synergies she's assembling.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Stab is a role-player rather than a staple — the tapped restriction means you're running it in decks that generate that condition reliably, not as a generic answer. In Pauper, where common-only pools tighten every decision, it competes honestly against unconditional removal but still falls short of Doom Blade or Cast Down for most builds. In constructed formats like Standard and Pioneer, Stab is fringe inclusion at best — efficient removal exists at the same cost without the condition attached. Legacy and Vintage don't want it at all; the bar for a restrictive one-mana instant is simply too high.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.17 bulk tier
At $0.17, Stab is deep bulk — you're picking it out of a commons box, not paying for it. Bulk commons don't appreciate; run it if the deck calls for it and don't think twice about the cost.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.