Trip Up
Instant
Target nonland permanent's owner puts it on their choice of the top or bottom of their library.
Cycling 
(, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Aetherdrift
- Price
- $0.10
- EDHREC rank
- #20626
Trip Up taps a creature and gives it -0/-3 until end of turn for a single blue mana — instant-speed pseudo-removal that stops an attacker or neutralizes a blocker without spending two or three mana. Solid tempo play, but it leaves the creature on board, which means it rarely pulls full weight in formats where killing threats matters more than stalling them.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Trip Up is fringe-playable at best — one-mana interaction is always cheap, but tapping a single creature does almost nothing against a table of three opponents, and the -0/-3 toughness reduction rarely converts to a kill. Pauper is where Trip Up earns real consideration, slotting into tempo-blue shells that chain cheap interaction to protect a threat or push through damage. In competitive Constructed formats like Modern and Pioneer, it's outclassed by counterspells and hard removal that don't leave the problem on the table. Standard offers the most charitable environment outside Pauper, where aggressive blue decks can weaponize the tap effect to land a decisive attack.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.10 bulk tier
At $0.10, Trip Up is deep bulk — it will not appreciate and is freely available in any trade binder. Pick it up if a Pauper tempo list specifically calls for it; otherwise there's no reason to track down copies.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.