Price$8.26 – $17.71
Buy on TCGplayerIsochron Scepter
Artifact
Legal Salt 1.40Rank #716
Imprint — When this artifact enters, you may exile an instant card with mana value 2 or less from your hand.
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: You may copy the exiled card. If you do, you may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.
KeywordsImprint
Why is this card good?
Isochron Scepter turns a single cheap instant into a repeatable engine, and that repetition is where it shines in Commander's long, grindy games. The classic play is imprinting Dramatic Reversal — in a deck with enough mana rocks/dorks that untap loop generates infinite mana, a genuine combo finish in colorless-friendly shells. Outside that, it just gives you the same effect every turn for .
The best targets fit your gamepl) plan: Silence or Orim's Chant for soft-lock stax/protection, Cyclonic Rift (no — too expensive), Counterspell or Swan Song for control, Boomerang/Cyclonic-style bounce, or Lightning Helix-tier value. It rewards instant-dense decks: control, stax (Grand Arbiter, Derevi), and cEDH combo lines.
When NOT to play it: it's a do-nothing artifact until you imprint, and a dead draw if you've already used your good instants. Decks light on sub-3-MV instants, or aggressive/creature-centric tokens and aristocrats decks, get little value. Best in dedicated builds where the imprint target matters as much as the Scepter itself.
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The best targets fit your gamepl) plan: Silence or Orim's Chant for soft-lock stax/protection, Cyclonic Rift (no — too expensive), Counterspell or Swan Song for control, Boomerang/Cyclonic-style bounce, or Lightning Helix-tier value. It rewards instant-dense decks: control, stax (Grand Arbiter, Derevi), and cEDH combo lines.
When NOT to play it: it's a do-nothing artifact until you imprint, and a dead draw if you've already used your good instants. Decks light on sub-3-MV instants, or aggressive/creature-centric tokens and aristocrats decks, get little value. Best in dedicated builds where the imprint target matters as much as the Scepter itself.Related cards
Dramatic Reversal
Classic Scepter combo piece for infinite mana with nonland mana rocks.
Silence
Imprinted to lock opponents out of casting spells each turn.
Counterspell
Recurring counter every turn locks the board.
Mystical Tutor
Fetches the ideal instant to imprint on the Scepter.
Orim's Chant
Repeatable Silence-style lock, even with kicker variants.
Swords to Plowshares
Repeatable removal imprint to exile threats each turn.
Brainstorm
Repeatable card filtering imprint for value engines.
Narset's Reversal
Another untap/copy enabler that pairs with mana rocks for infinite combos.