Stir the Sands
Sorcery
Create three 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens.
Cycling 
(, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
When you cycle this card, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Amonkhet
- Price
- $0.12
- EDHREC rank
- #22276
Stir the Sands makes three 2/2 Zombie tokens at instant speed for five mana — or one token for one mana via cycling, which is the real reason to run it. The floor of a single body that replaces itself makes this a no-brainer inclusion in any deck that wants bodies on the board at end step.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Stir the Sands earns its slot in Zombie tribal decks specifically because the cycling mode is clean: one mana, one token, and the card is in the graveyard where many of these decks want it. The full five-mana mode is slow at that table but passable as a late-game mana sink at instant speed. In competitive 60-card formats — Modern, Pioneer, Legacy — it doesn't clear the bar; five mana for three 2/2s is too inefficient against counterspells and removal, and dedicated token strategies have tighter options. Oathbreaker can replicate the same Zombie-synergy logic as Commander, so it's playable there in the same narrow shell.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.12 bulk tier
At $0.12, Stir the Sands is deep bulk — pick it up without thinking twice if your Zombie deck wants the cycling token. Bulk commons and uncommons at this price point don't move unless a competitive deck adopts them, and that's not happening here, so buy it for play value and don't think about the price again.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.