Unscrupulous Agent
Creature — Elf Detective
When this creature enters, target opponent exiles a card from their hand.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Murders at Karlov Manor
- Price
- $0.09
- EDHREC rank
- #20193
Unscrupulous Agent enters the battlefield and forces target opponent to reveal their hand, letting you name a nonland card they can't cast next turn — a Thought Seize effect stapled to a body. The cost is that you're paying three mana for a 2/1 with no evasion, which is a steep rate for a one-shot disruptive effect.
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, Unscrupulous Agent is a niche piece at best — the one-opponent targeting makes it inefficient in a four-player game, and three mana for a 2/1 body rarely pulls weight at a table where board states escalate fast. Constructed formats like Modern and Pioneer have access to Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek at lower mana costs without the vanilla body attached, which makes Unscrupulous Agent competitively irrelevant there. Pauper is the one format where the commons pool is shallow enough that a rattlesnake discard effect on a creature might earn a fringe look, particularly in tempo-oriented black shells. Standard is its most likely home right now purely by default, where it can fill a curve slot if the meta demands hand disruption on a creature.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.09 bulk tier
At $0.09, Unscrupulous Agent is deep bulk — you're picking it up in a pile, not a single. That price is a ceiling, not a floor; there's no sleeper trajectory here for a three-mana 2/1 with a one-shot effect.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.