Thieves' Auction
Sorcery
Exile all nontoken permanents. Starting with you, each player chooses one of the exiled cards and puts it onto the battlefield tapped under their control. Repeat this process until all cards exiled this way have been chosen.
- CMC
- 7
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Eighth Edition
- Price
- $3.79
- EDHREC rank
- #9615
Thieves' Auction exiles every nonland permanent on the board, then each player — starting with you — takes one at a time until they're all claimed, which means you pick first and opponents are left sorting through whatever remains. Seven mana is steep, but the chaos-to-value ratio is the whole point, and Ian Malcolm, Chaotician turns that chaos into a triggered-ability engine.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ian Malcolm, Chaotician
Ian Malcolm, Chaotician triggers off random effects and the unpredictable redistribution of Thieves' Auction generates exactly the kind of chaotic board state his ability rewards — every permanent that changes hands is fuel.
Norin the Wary
Norin the Wary flickers out the moment Thieves' Auction resolves and returns untouched at end of turn, so you always reclaim your commander while opponents scramble for what's left on the table.
Blim, Comedic Genius
Thieves' Auction is a vehicle for loading opponents with high-drawback permanents, and Blim, Comedic Genius turns every cursed enchantment or cost-heavy artifact that lands in an opponent's lap into a drain trigger.
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 |
Thieves' Auction is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but outside Commander it's essentially unplayable — seven mana for a symmetrical effect with no guaranteed return is too slow and too aimless for any competitive non-rotating format. In Commander, it occupies a specific niche: chaos and group-hug-adjacent decks that either benefit from board resets or can engineer the pick order to their advantage. The card rewards decks that have already seeded the board with permanents opponents don't want — curses, Demonic Pact, Illusions of Grandeur — so the redistribution isn't symmetric at all.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$3.79 cheap tier
At $3.79, Thieves' Auction sits in the cheap tier — accessible enough that any chaos deck can run it without budget friction. It's a narrow card with a committed audience, so the price reflects steady casual demand rather than broad competitive play.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.