Tangle Mantis
Creature — Insect
Trample
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Mirrodin Besieged
- Price
- $0.28
- EDHREC rank
- #29118
Tangle Mantis forces every creature it damages to become tapped, which is a reasonable combat-disruption effect stapled to a 3/3 body for five mana. The cost is the problem — five mana for a vanilla-statted creature with no evasion is asking too much in any competitive context.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Tangle Mantis sits below the bar — five mana needs to either win the game or generate immediate card advantage, and a 3/3 that taps blockers does neither reliably against three opponents. In Pauper, the format where commons compete hardest on efficiency, the mana cost makes Tangle Mantis a non-starter against the speed of established archetypes. Legacy and Vintage are non-conversations for a card this slow. If Tangle Mantis has any home at all, it's a casual Commander table where combat is the dominant interaction and enrage or untap synergies give the tap-on-damage effect a second purpose.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.28 bulk tier
At $0.28, Tangle Mantis is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not card quality. That price is stable simply because demand is negligible, not because any sleeper value is waiting to be unlocked.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.