Swords to Plowshares
Instant
Exile target creature. Its controller gains life equal to its power.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Conspiracy
- Price
- $1.59
- EDHREC rank
- #11
Swords to Plowshares is the gold standard for single-target removal in white — one mana to permanently exile any creature, no questions asked. The life gain is the only real cost, and in Commander it rarely decides a game the way a surviving threat would. Commanders like Ketramose, the New Dawn that generate value engines from life totals are the edge case worth noting; everywhere else, the trade-off is immaterial.
Where It Shines
Where the extra mana on turn one matters most
Combos featuring Jumbo Cactuar
Jumbo Cactuar combos often require a critical mass of mana on the turn they go off, and casting Swords to Plowshares for one mana on a blocking creature turn-one keeps your land drops and rocks untapped for the combo turn instead of spending two or three mana on removal that stalls your setup.
Combos featuring Serra Avatar + Sanguine Bond
The Serra Avatar line wins by converting life totals into lethal damage, so clearing a blocker or a disruptive creature with Swords to Plowshares for one mana — rather than spending multiple mana on slower removal — means you hit the Serra Avatar + Sanguine Bond mana threshold a full turn earlier.
Big-mana shells like Ms. Bumbleflower
Decks built around Ms. Bumbleflower live and die by tempo in the early turns, and Swords to Plowshares fits cleanly into a turn-one pass that leaves mana open for a rock or accelerant the same turn — something a two-mana removal spell simply can't do.
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 |
Swords to Plowshares is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker — and banned or not printed in every other major format, which tells you exactly how powerful one-mana unconditional exile is. In Legacy it remains a format-defining spell, used in control and tempo shells to answer anything from Murktide Regent to Marit Lage for a single white mana. In Commander it is an auto-include in virtually every white deck: the only meaningful question is whether you're running enough copies of similar effects, not whether Swords to Plowshares belongs. Vintage play is narrower but present, mostly as a one-of in white-based control. The card's absence from Modern and Pioneer isn't an oversight — it was never legal there — and its exclusion from Pauper is a rarity decision, not a power one.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Serra AvatarSwords to PlowsharesSanguine Bond
Near-infinite lifegain; Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent; Target opponent loses the game
View combo details →
Serra AvatarSwords to PlowsharesVito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
Near-infinite lifegain; Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent; Target opponent loses the game
View combo details →
Wall of BloodVizkopa GuildmageSwords to Plowshares
Infinite lifeloss; Near-infinite lifegain
View combo details →Vizkopa GuildmageSwords to PlowsharesSerra Avatar
Each opponent loses the game; Near-infinite lifegain; Near-infinite lifeloss
View combo details →Price Context
Current price
$1.59 cheap tier
At $1.59, Swords to Plowshares sits at the cheapest end of genuinely format-warping cards — there is no functional budget alternative at one mana that exiles unconditionally. Wide print runs across decades of sets keep the price floor low, so this is a card you buy once and never replace.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.