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Moxonomy

Byway Barterer

Creature — Raccoon Rogue2 generic manaRed mana

Wheel effects have always been expensive: seven mana for the original, or a life payment, or a red sorcery that hands your opponents the same fresh grip. The trick here is that the refill costs no card and no dedicated spell at all. The expend mechanic reads your fourth total mana spent in a turn as the trigger, so the wheel fires as a byproduct of a turn you were already going to have: two cheap spells, or one four-drop, and the option appears. That reframes the discard-your-hand clause from a desperation button into a pressure valve. It rewards a low, aggressive curve that empties the hand quickly, then refuels it before the deck runs dry, and the "you may" keeps the ability from stranding you with a hand you would rather keep. The 3/3 with menace is doing real work as the delivery system: a body that keeps attacking while the engine ticks, not a fragile enabler that sits back. What balances it is the all-or-nothing shape of the payoff. You draw two, but only by pitching everything, so the card punishes hoarding and pays out hardest when you are near empty, which is exactly where an aggressive red deck wants to be. It is card advantage engineered for a color that historically had to buy it with damage or burn a spell slot.

Byway Barterer (blb)
BLB · #360rare
Pricing
Normal: $0.28
Foil: $0.38
Oracle Text

Rules text

Menace Whenever you expend 4, you may discard your hand. If you do, draw two cards. (You expend 4 as you spend your fourth total mana to cast spells during a turn.)
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
Legal
Pioneer
Legal
Modern
Legal
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
Legal
Historic
Legal
Alchemy
Legal
Timeless
Legal
Standard Brawl
Legal
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
N/A
PreDH
N/A
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
Legal
Penny Dreadful
Legal
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
Legal
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
Legal
TLR
Legal
Printings elsewhere

Other printings

2 sets
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