Summoning Trap
Instant — Trap
If a creature spell you cast this turn was countered by a spell or ability an opponent controlled, you may pay 
rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Look at the top seven cards of your library. You may put a creature card from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Modern Masters 2017
- Price
- $0.45
- EDHREC rank
- #17328
Summoning Trap puts a creature directly onto the battlefield from the top seven cards of your library — no mana cost paid, no summoning sickness caveat, just an immediate board presence. At seven mana it's expensive, but the cascade-style cost reduction kicks in whenever a creature spell gets countered, making it free in the exact moment it hurts the most.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Summoning Trap actually belongs — the free mode triggers constantly against the blue seats at any table, and landing an Eldrazi or a Craterhoof Behemoth for zero mana off a countered spell is a tempo swing that can decide a game. In Modern and Legacy it has seen niche play in creature-cheat strategies, but seven mana is a steep ceiling in those formats and the free condition requires an opponent who's actively holding up countermagic, which isn't guaranteed. Vintage has better cheating engines at lower cost, so Summoning Trap sits on the shelf there. Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper can't run it at all.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.45 bulk tier
At $0.45, Summoning Trap is firmly bulk, which makes it an easy include — the effect is powerful enough to warrant a slot in any green creature deck but the market clearly hasn't caught up to its Commander utility. Don't expect the price to disappear; bulk mythics with narrow free conditions tend to stay in this range.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.