Throttle
Instant
Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Shadows over Innistrad
- Price
- $0.06
- EDHREC rank
- #27780
Throttle kills a creature and leaves a 1/1 body — the effect is real, the cost is not: five mana at sorcery speed is too slow for any competitive table. Unconditional destruction with upside exists at three and four mana, and Throttle doesn't clear that bar.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Throttle competes against a deep pool of unconditional removal at lower mana costs, and losing to that comparison at every table makes it a difficult include outside pure budget pauper builds. In Pauper specifically, Throttle is more defensible — the format's card pool is constrained enough that a five-mana kill spell with a token rider has marginal utility in slower black control shells. Legacy, Vintage, and Modern have no interest in Throttle; those formats demand interaction that costs one or two mana. Pioneer and Oathbreaker follow the same logic as Commander: better options exist at every price point, and the sorcery speed compounds the problem.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.06 bulk tier
At $0.06, Throttle is pure bulk — you'll find it in a common box at any game store for nothing. There's no meaningful floor to fall through at this price, but there's also no reason to expect it to appreciate; it's an overcosted common that sees fringe play at best.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.