Worthy Cause
Instant
Buyback 
(You may pay an additional as you cast this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)
As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature.
You gain life equal to the sacrificed creature's toughness.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Tempest
- Price
- $0.38
- EDHREC rank
- #21532
Worthy Cause sacrifices a creature at instant speed to gain life equal to its toughness — and with Outrider en-Kor redirecting damage to any target you choose, that toughness number can get arbitrarily large before the trigger resolves. Outside that loop, it's a narrow one-shot life payment that rarely pulls its weight.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Worthy Cause is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but its relevance is almost entirely Commander-shaped — the format's slower clock and combo-friendly rules make infinite-toughness loops viable in a way that Legacy and Vintage simply don't support. In Commander it slots into dedicated life-gain or en-Kor combo shells where the instant-speed sacrifice clause matters for responding to removal or combat. Legacy and Vintage are theoretically legal homes, but no competitive list wants a sorcery-speed-adjacent life payment when faster and more consistent options exist. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander at a smaller table.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.38 bulk tier
At $0.38, Worthy Cause is bulk — pick it up without a second thought if the combo fits your list. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to move unless a high-profile en-Kor list puts it on the map.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.