Tibalt's Trickery
Instant
Counter target spell. Choose 1, 2, or 3 at random. Its controller mills that many cards, then exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card with a different name than that spell. They may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then they put the exiled cards on the bottom of their library in a random order.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Kaldheim Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #582
Tibalt's Trickery counters any spell and replaces it with something random off the top of the target's library — two or three cards deep, depending on the roll — for just two mana. The risk is real: you can whiff and hand them something better, but at instant speed for that cost, commanders like Ral, Monsoon Mage that want cheap spells on the stack treat it as a feature, not a bug.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | banned |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Tibalt's Trickery is banned in Modern, where it fueled degenerate self-targeting lines that consistently cheated enormous permanents into play on turn two. Legacy, Vintage, Pioneer, and Oathbreaker leave it legal, where the card pool and threat density keep the self-targeting exploit less consistent or simply outclassed by other broken options. Commander gives it a full pass because the singleton rule eliminates the reliable setup required to abuse the self-targeting line — you can't stack your deck with one target and one Trickery — so it functions as a high-variance but legitimate counterspell rather than a combo piece.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ral, Monsoon Mage
Ral, Monsoon Mage flips to his back face when you cast your third instant or sorcery in a turn, and Tibalt's Trickery counts toward that trigger while also protecting your other spells — cheap interaction that advances the transform clock is exactly what the deck wants.
Slicer, Hired Muscle
Slicer, Hired Muscle decks lean on chaos and disruption to survive the political exposure of donating a massive threat to opponents, and Tibalt's Trickery provides cheap, unpredictable countermagic that fits the anarchic gameplan without requiring blue.
Zurzoth, Chaos Rider
Zurzoth, Chaos Rider builds around Devils and random effects, and Tibalt's Trickery slots in as on-theme interaction — the chaotic resolution is a flavor match and a mechanical one, since the deck regularly wants cheap spells to trigger incidental damage.
Norin the Wary
Norin the Wary decks run every cheap red spell they can find to generate enters-the-battlefield triggers, and Tibalt's Trickery at two mana pulls double duty as an on-curve chaos piece and a way to blank an opponent's critical spell.
Ian Malcolm, Chaotician
Ian Malcolm, Chaotician rewards you for casting spells with random or variable outcomes, and Tibalt's Trickery's randomized counter effect generates the chaotic event type the deck is built to exploit.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Current pricing data for Tibalt's Trickery isn't available in this listing, so check Scryfall or your preferred retailer for the live number. It has seen multiple printings, which has kept the floor relatively accessible compared to its early peak, and it's worth picking up whenever you find it near its historical low given its consistent Commander demand.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Ral, Monsoon Mage
- Slicer, Hired Muscle
- Zurzoth, Chaos Rider
- Norin the Wary
- Ian Malcolm, Chaotician
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.