Extirpate

Instant

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)

Choose target card in a graveyard other than a basic land card. Search its owner's graveyard, hand, and library for all cards with the same name as that card and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library.

Fatal Frenzy

Instant

Until end of turn, target creature you control gains trample and gets +X/+0, where X is its power. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.

"I hope to have such a death-lying in triumph upon the broken bodies of those who slew me."
-Radha, Keldon warlord

Fury Charm

Instant

Choose one - Destroy target artifact; or target creature gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn; or remove two time counters from target permanent or suspended card.

Healing Leaves

Instant

Choose one - Target player gains 3 life; or prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.

The elves of Llanowar don't trust in alchemy. They rely instead on pure herbs harvested from the forest's sacred heart.

Imp's Mischief

Instant

Change the target of target spell with a single target. You lose life equal to that spell's converted mana cost.

"Do the innocent pay for the crimes of the guilty? Of course they do. That's the fate of the weak."
-Nicol Bolas

Kor Dirge

Instant

All damage that would be dealt this turn to target creature you control by a source of your choice is dealt to another target creature instead.

Rath's new evincar eliminated the brutish moggs and took a new slave race, one more reminiscent of her own feline grace.

Mana Tithe

Instant

Counter target spell unless its controller pays .

"Those who seek to upset the balance must be taxed for such ambitions."
-Verithain, mesa high priest

Midnight Charm

Instant

Choose one - Midnight Charm deals 1 damage to target creature and you gain 1 life; or target creature gains first strike until end of turn; or tap target creature.

Ovinize

Instant

Target creature loses all abilities and becomes 0/1 until end of turn.

"You wish for me to cow your enemies? I can do better than that . . . ."
-Teferi, second-level student

Piracy Charm

Instant

Choose one - Target creature gains islandwalk until end of turn; or target creature gets +2/-1 until end of turn; or target player discards a card.

Pongify

Instant

Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated. That creature's controller puts a 3/3 green Ape creature token onto the battlefield.

Some spellcrafting mistakes go on to become spells of their own.

Rebuff the Wicked

Instant

Counter target spell that targets a permanent you control.

"I cannot teach you their brand of magic, but I can teach you how to defend against it."
-Tavalus, priest of Korlis

Spellshift

Instant

Counter target instant or sorcery spell. Its controller reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals an instant or sorcery card. That player may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then he or she shuffles his or her library.

Timecrafting

Instant

Choose one - Remove X time counters from target permanent or suspended card; or put X time counters on target permanent with a time counter on it or suspended card.

Oddly, an unstable time stream makes wizards want to tinker with it even more.

Treacherous Urge

Instant

Target opponent reveals his or her hand. You may put a creature card from it onto the battlefield under your control. That creature gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.

Venarian Glimmer

Instant

Target player reveals his or her hand. You choose a nonland card with converted mana cost X or less from it. That player discards that card.

Dream of nothing, and wake to a dream come true.

Angel's Grace

Instant

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)

You can't lose the game this turn and your opponents can't win the game this turn. Until end of turn, damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead.

Bewilder

Instant

Target creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn.

Draw a card.

"Teferi snapped his fingers, and the viashino started clucking like a chicken. Silly, yes, but exactly the thing we needed to break the stifling tension."
-Jhoira, master artificer

Careful Consideration

Instant

Target player draws four cards, then discards three cards. If you cast this spell during your main phase, instead that player draws four cards, then discards two cards.

"Sages who take the time to verify their sources are rewarded for their diligence."
-Jhoira, to Teferi

Chameleon Blur

Instant

Prevent all damage that creatures would deal to players this turn.

"Sometimes the best plan is neither fighting nor running."
-Freyalise

Clockspinning

Instant

Buyback (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)

Choose a counter on target permanent or suspended card. Remove that counter from that permanent or card or put another of those counters on it.

Dark Withering

Instant

Destroy target nonblack creature.

Madness (If you discard this card, you may cast it for its madness cost instead of putting it into your graveyard.)

Fortify

Instant

Choose one - Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn; or creatures you control get +0/+2 until end of turn.

"Where metal is tainted and wood is scarce, we are best armed by faith."
-Tavalus, acolyte of Korlis

Haunting Hymn

Instant

Target player discards two cards. If you cast this spell during your main phase, that player discards four cards instead.

The hymn's melody has persisted since Tourach's time, but the words changed to invoke the phobias of each listener.

Krosan Grip

Instant

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)

Destroy target artifact or enchantment.

"Give up these unnatural weapons, these scrolls. Heart and mind and fist are enough."
-Zyd, Kamahlite druid

Lightning Axe

Instant

As an additional cost to cast Lightning Axe, discard a card or pay .

Lightning Axe deals 5 damage to target creature.

"A gargoyle's meat can be carved with an ordinary cleaver, but for its petrous hide . . ."
-Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar,
The Underworld Cookbook

Might of Old Krosa

Instant

Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. If you cast this spell during your main phase, that creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn instead.

Sometimes even humble forest creatures were gifted with mighty emanations from the past.

Molder

Instant

Destroy target artifact or enchantment with converted mana cost X. It can't be regenerated. You gain X life.

"The forests have succumbed to ruin, but the spirit of Krosa remains alive and vital in these devouring spores."
-Zyd, Kamahlite druid

Momentary Blink

Instant

Exile target creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.

Flashback (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Moonlace

Instant

Target spell or permanent becomes colorless.

Once a vision of constancy in the sky, the moon had long been hidden from view by the haze that chokes the heavens. The very sight of it had become a sign that change was in the air.

Mystical Teachings

Instant

Search your library for an instant card or a card with flash, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

Flashback (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Orcish Cannonade

Instant

Orcish Cannonade deals 2 damage to target creature or player and 3 damage to you.

Draw a card.

"Crispy! Scarback! Load another volcano-ball."
-Stumphobbler Thuj, Orcish captain

Pull from Eternity

Instant

Put target face-up exiled card into its owner's graveyard.

It is best to conquer dragons before they hatch.
-Femeref adage

Reiterate

Instant

Buyback (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)

Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.

"Echoes of the Mirari's power yet linger."
-Zyd, Kamahlite druid

Snapback

Instant

You may exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay Snapback's mana cost.

Return target creature to its owner's hand.

"If it returns years hence, our knowledge of how to combat it will be that much greater."
-Andorel, Tolarian sentinel

Spell Burst

Instant

Buyback (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)

Counter target spell with converted mana cost X.

The brutish mage's version of thinking.

Sprout

Instant

Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield.

Centuries of temporal strife had stripped Dominaria of its natural defenses, but nature fought back with armies constructed of little more than grime and sunlight.

Squall Line

Instant

Squall Line deals X damage to each creature with flying and each player.

The constant shifting of Dominaria's shredded timeline played havoc with its atmosphere, combining savage electrical storms from ages past.

Stonewood Invocation

Instant

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)

Target creature gets +5/+5 and gains shroud until end of turn. (It can't be the target of spells or abilities.)

"Might of ancient wood and stone,
Into spirit, flesh, and bone."

Strangling Soot

Instant

Destroy target creature with toughness 3 or less.

Flashback (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

"What good is your blade without your breath?"
-Greht, Gathan warlord

Strength in Numbers

Instant

Until end of turn, target creature gains trample and gets +X/+X, where X is the number of attacking creatures.

"The hermit dies. The outcast dies. The lone wolf dies. Only those who stick together survive this world."
-Uros, Pendelhaven elder

Sudden Death

Instant

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)

Target creature gets -4/-4 until end of turn.

Some mages tapped into the time rifts, forcing upon others alternate timelines in which unimaginable horrors befall them.

Sudden Shock

Instant

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)

Sudden Shock deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

Arc mages aren't known for their patience.

Sudden Spoiling

Instant

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)

Until end of turn, creatures target player controls lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 0/2.

Sulfurous Blast

Instant

Sulfurous Blast deals 2 damage to each creature and each player. If you cast this spell during your main phase, Sulfurous Blast deals 3 damage to each creature and each player instead.

The Keldons used the toxic vents in the cracked earth to bolster their home's defenses.

Thrill of the Hunt

Instant

Target creature gets +1/+2 until end of turn.

Flashback (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Traitor's Clutch

Instant

Target creature gets +1/+0, becomes black, and gains shadow until end of turn. (It can block or be blocked by only creatures with shadow.)

Flashback (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Trickbind

Instant

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)

Counter target activated or triggered ability. If a permanent's ability is countered this way, activated abilities of that permanent can't be activated this turn. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.)

Truth or Tale

Instant

Reveal the top five cards of your library and separate them into two piles. An opponent chooses one of those piles. Put a card from the chosen pile into your hand, then put all other cards revealed this way on the bottom of your library in any order.

Wipe Away

Instant

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)

Return target permanent to its owner's hand.

An eyeblink later, all that remained of the tree-beast was the breeze of its momentum.

Word of Seizing

Instant

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)

Untap target permanent and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.

"Obey!"

Balduvian Rage

Instant

Target attacking creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn.

Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep.

"Let your heartbeat be the thunder in the valley. Let your swords be the lightning on the peaks."
-Lothar Lovisason, Balduvian chieftain

Chill to the Bone

Instant

Destroy target nonsnow creature.

"Thick hides and layered armor won't help when I freeze you from the inside out."
-Heidar, Rimewind master

Commandeer

Instant

You may exile two blue cards from your hand rather than pay Commandeer's mana cost.

Gain control of target noncreature spell. You may choose new targets for it. (If that spell is an artifact, enchantment, or planeswalker, the permanent enters the battlefield under your control.)

Controvert

Instant

Counter target spell.

Recover (When a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay . If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, exile this card.)

Grim Harvest

Instant

Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.

Recover (When a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay . If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, exile this card.)

Kjeldoran War Cry

Instant

Creatures you control get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is 1 plus the number of cards named Kjeldoran War Cry in all graveyards.

King Darien's breath crystallized and fell to the frozen battlefield, but its command carried true to all soldiers of New Argive.

Krovikan Rot

Instant

Destroy target creature with power 2 or less.

Recover (When a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay . If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, exile this card.)

Lightning Storm

Instant

Lightning Storm deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is 3 plus the number of charge counters on it.

Discard a land card: Put two charge counters on Lightning Storm. You may choose a new target for it. Any player may activate this ability but only if Lightning Storm is on the stack.

Mystic Melting

Instant

Destroy target artifact or enchantment.

Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep.

The sun-hot glow radiated from the druids, leaving scattered metal in steaming pools as it passed.

Resize

Instant

Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn.

Recover (When a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay . If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, exile this card.)

Rune Snag

Instant

Counter target spell unless its controller pays plus an additional for each card named Rune Snag in each graveyard.

"Concentration is key. Without it, a mage conjures nothing but a splitting headache."
-Zur the Enchanter

Skred

Instant

Skred deals damage to target creature equal to the number of snow permanents you control.

"This close to Rimewind Keep, no avalanche is nature's doing."
-Ukoten, centaur chieftain

Soul Spike

Instant

You may exile two black cards from your hand rather than pay Soul Spike's mana cost.

Soul Spike deals 4 damage to target creature or player and you gain 4 life.

Sun's Bounty

Instant

You gain 4 life.

Recover (When a creature is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay . If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, exile this card.)

"Heidar has forced the sun into hiding, but it has not forgotten us."

Surging Æther

Instant

Ripple 4 (When you cast this spell, you may reveal the top four cards of your library. You may cast any revealed cards with the same name as this spell without paying their mana costs. Put the rest on the bottom of your library.)

Return target permanent to its owner's hand.

Surging Flame

Instant

Ripple 4 (When you cast this spell, you may reveal the top four cards of your library. You may cast any revealed cards with the same name as this spell without paying their mana costs. Put the rest on the bottom of your library.)

Surging Flame deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

Swift Maneuver

Instant

Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.

Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep.

Darien's call to Yavimaya would have fallen red to the snow had it not been for the agility of the aesthir.

Thermal Flux

Instant

Choose one - Target nonsnow permanent becomes snow until end of turn; or target snow permanent isn't snow until end of turn.

Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep.

Vanish into Memory

Instant

Exile target creature. You draw cards equal to that creature's power. At the beginning of your next upkeep, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control. If you do, discard cards equal to its toughness.

Out of sight, into mind.

Azorius Ploy

Instant

Prevent all combat damage target creature would deal this turn.

Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn.

Azorius military tactics, like their legal tactics, capitalize on delay and nullification.

Æthermage's Touch

Instant

Reveal the top four cards of your library. You may put a creature card from among them onto the battlefield. It has "At the beginning of your end step, return this creature to its owner's hand." Then put the rest of the cards revealed this way on the bottom of your library in any order.

Bound (Bound/Determined)

Instant

Sacrifice a creature. Return up to X cards from your graveyard to your hand, where X is the number of colors that creature was. Exile this card.

Brace for Impact

Instant

Prevent all damage that would be dealt to target multicolored creature this turn. For each 1 damage prevented this way, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature.

Flesh can be tempered by spellcraft and forged ever stronger by the hammers of foes.

Cackling Flames

Instant

Cackling Flames deals 3 damage to target creature or player.

Hellbent - Cackling Flames deals 5 damage to that creature or player instead if you have no cards in hand.

"I like a little entertainment with my dinner."
-Rakdos

Carom

Instant

The next 1 damage that would be dealt to target creature this turn is dealt to another target creature instead.

Draw a card.

Her enemy's strength is her own.

Cytoshape

Instant

Choose a nonlegendary creature on the battlefield. Target creature becomes a copy of that creature until end of turn.

"Though highly effective at reshaping flesh, these specially bred cytoplasts leave the subject reeking of omnibian mucus."
-Simic research notes

Flash Foliage

Instant

Cast Flash Foliage only during combat after blockers are declared.

Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield blocking target creature attacking you.

Draw a card.

"This undemanding vegetation takes root in a mote of dust but grows incredibly quickly."
-Simic research notes

Hide (Hide/Seek)

Instant

Put target artifact or enchantment on the bottom of its owner's library.

Hit (Hit/Run)

Instant

Target player sacrifices an artifact or creature. Hit deals damage to that player equal to that permanent's converted mana cost.

Ignorant Bliss

Instant

Exile all cards from your hand face down. At the beginning of the next end step, return those cards to your hand, then draw a card.

"A quick step beyond oblivion lies a place so full of thoughts that it leaves no room for your own."
-Quyzl, chronarch prodigy

Might of the Nephilim

Instant

Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn for each of its colors.

"Send a runner to Tin Street, and tell 'em the delivery has been . . . uh . . . held up."
-Bonmod, caravan rear guard

Nightcreep

Instant

Until end of turn, all creatures become black and all lands become Swamps.

"Please tell me I'm hallucinating. I'd rather be crazy than here."
-Gorev Hadszak, Wojek investigator

Odds (Odds/Ends)

Instant

Flip a coin. If it comes up heads, counter target instant or sorcery spell. If it comes up tails, copy that spell and you may choose new targets for the copy.

Overrule

Instant

Counter target spell unless its controller pays . You gain X life.

With one commanding word, the spell was put down and a fine collected for its casting.

Psychotic Fury

Instant

Target multicolored creature gains double strike until end of turn.

Draw a card.

"Rage, my servants. Our ancient power is renewed in blood."
-Rakdos

Research (Research/Development)

Instant

Choose up to four cards you own from outside the game and shuffle them into your library.

Spell Snare

Instant

Counter target spell with converted mana cost 2.

Every culture has its unlucky numbers. In a city where you're either alone, in a crowd, or being stabbed in the back, two is the worst number of all.

Steeling Stance

Instant

Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.

Forecast - , Reveal Steeling Stance from your hand: Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn. (Activate this ability only during your upkeep and only once each turn.)

Swift Silence

Instant

Counter all other spells. Draw a card for each spell countered this way.

"This world may not know peace, but in my presence you will know quiet."
-Augustin IV

Trial (Trial/Error)

Instant

Return all creatures blocking or blocked by target creature to their owner's hand.

Twinstrike

Instant

Twinstrike deals 2 damage to each of two target creatures.

Hellbent - Destroy those creatures instead if you have no cards in hand.

They're dying left and right.

Valor Made Real

Instant

Target creature can block any number of creatures this turn.

"As my father taught, ‘Training will raise your shield to the blow, but courage fills the gaps the shield leaves open.'"

Vigean Intuition

Instant

Choose a card type, then reveal the top four cards of your library. Put all cards of the chosen type revealed this way into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. (Artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery, and tribal are card types.)

Vision Skeins

Instant

Each player draws two cards.

"I could see in the other mage's eyes that he'd thought of it too. Then it became a race to exploit the knowledge first."

Voidslime

Instant

Counter target spell, activated ability, or triggered ability. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.)

"It is technically an ooze, but its lifespan measures only seconds. In that short time, its appetite for magic is extraordinary."
-Simic research notes

Weight of Spires

Instant

Weight of Spires deals damage to target creature equal to the number of nonbasic lands that creature's controller controls.

"Finally, a good use for an Azorius courthouse."
-Ghut Rak, Gruul guildmage

Wrecking Ball

Instant

Destroy target creature or land.

Rakdos festivals almost leave enough rubble in their wake to hide the bodies.

Cerebral Vortex

Instant

Target player draws two cards, then Cerebral Vortex deals damage to that player equal to the number of cards he or she has drawn this turn.

Izzet brains and Izzet boilers: contents under pressure.

Crash Landing

Instant

Target creature with flying loses flying until end of turn. Crash Landing deals damage to that creature equal to the number of Forests you control.

"The other guilds think they're untouchable. It's time we brought them back down to earth."
-Ghut Rak, Gruul guildmage