This Town Ain't Big Enough
Instant
This spell costs 
less to cast if it targets a permanent you control.
Return up to two target nonland permanents to their owners' hands.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Outlaws of Thunder Junction
- Price
- $0.31
- EDHREC rank
- #9208
This Town Ain't Big Enough makes all creatures with a chosen name lose flying and can't block, then exiles them at end of turn — a one-sided board wipe for any single creature type that costs just one mana. It's a precision scalpel, not a sweeper, but at instant speed for one blue it overperforms its price tag by a wide margin.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | banned |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
This Town Ain't Big Enough is banned in Standard, which tells you everything about how warped token and tribal strategies can get in that format — a one-mana instant that exiles an entire board of Soldiers or Spirits is simply too efficient when those decks reliably flood the board with one creature type. Everywhere else it's legal, but it only earns a slot when you can confidently name a type your opponent is relying on. In Commander, that restriction evaporates: with four opponents, there's almost always a tribal deck at the table, and hitting a Sliver player's entire board for one blue mana is the kind of tempo swing that wins games. Legacy and Modern give it a narrower window, reserved mainly for sideboard duty against known tribal targets.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.31 bulk tier
At $0.31, This Town Ain't Big Enough sits firmly in bulk territory despite being a genuinely powerful effect. That price is unlikely to climb unless a dominant tribal deck makes it a sideboard staple across competitive formats, so buy in freely — it's an easy pickup at essentially zero cost.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.