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Moxonomy

Foul Play

Sorcery1 generic manaBlack mana

The power restriction is doing quiet double duty here. Capping the target at power 2 or less means this cannot answer the beaters or bombs that usually justify a black removal spell, so the printed rate has to be paid for somewhere else: the Clue. Attaching Investigate to a targeted destroy effect turns a spell that would otherwise vanish after trading once into a card that replaces itself over time, converting the tempo of killing a small blocker or utility creature into deferred card advantage. The tension is in when you spend, not just how much: two mana to cast, then two more (and a sacrifice) later to cash the Clue, which taxes your development up front but insures against flooding out later. What the restriction really shapes is the target profile. This is aimed at the mana dorks, the one-drop hatebears, the token generators, the sacrifice fodder, the small value engines that quietly win attrition games while the flashy removal sits dead in hand. It is a spell built to keep a slow deck's cards live against decks that go wide and low to the ground rather than tall. Because it needs a legal target to resolve, it is not a card you cast for the Clue alone; the removal has to matter first, and the card draw rides along as the compensation for accepting such a narrow kill.

Foul Play (dbl)
DBL · #101uncommon
Pricing
Normal: $0.22
Foil: $0.40
Oracle Text

Rules text

Destroy target creature with power 2 or less. Investigate. (Create a Clue token. It's an artifact with "2 generic mana, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
Legalities

Format Status

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

Other printings

2 sets
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