Unsubtle Mockery
Instant
Unsubtle Mockery deals 4 damage to target creature. Surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven
- Price
- $0.05
- EDHREC rank
- #24173
Unsubtle Mockery copies a spell on the stack and redirects the copy to a new target — instant-speed, no mana required beyond the initial cast. At whatever it costs, that on-board flexibility is real, but the payoff depends entirely on what spells your opponents are slinging.
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, Unsubtle Mockery does its best work at a table full of targeted removal and pump spells — copying a Swords to Plowshares or a kicked Rite of Replication at instant speed is a meaningful tempo swing. Elsewhere, the card is legal in every major format including Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Standard, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but reactive copy effects compete hard in those 60-card environments where the density of juicy targets isn't guaranteed. In Pauper especially, the common card pool keeps spell quality high enough that a well-timed Unsubtle Mockery can punch above its weight. Outside of Commander, it sits in a narrow niche — useful when it's useful, invisible when it isn't.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.05 bulk tier
At $0.05, Unsubtle Mockery is deep bulk — pick up a playset without thinking about it. Bulk rares and uncommons with narrow applications rarely climb unless a format breaks them, so treat this as a throw-in, not a spec.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.