Skip to content
← All sets and all cards

Abstract Performance

Blue

2 printings listed in our catalog, from newest to oldest.

Abstract Performance, Secrets of Strixhaven Commander printing
Secrets of Strixhaven Commander SOC · No. 17 2026-04-24

Card text

{5}{U}
Sorcery
Exile the top four cards of your library in a face-down pile, then exile the top four cards of your library in a face-up pile. An opponent chooses one of those piles. Put that pile into your graveyard. Look at the cards in the other pile. You may cast a spell from among them without paying its mana cost. Put the rest into your hand.
EDHREC rank #10840 Rare Not on the Reserved List
Seen in store
Nobody lists it in Quebec right now.

Run a comparison: we query the stores live, it may have arrived this morning.

The 2 printings

All, with their prices ↓

Standard ∅ Not legal
Pioneer ∅ Not legal
Modern ∅ Not legal
Legacy ✓ Legal
Vintage ✓ Legal
Pauper ∅ Not legal
Commander ✓ Legal
Oathbreaker ✓ Legal
Brawl ∅ Not legal
Historic ∅ Not legal
Timeless ∅ Not legal
Alchemy ∅ Not legal
Explorer ∅ Not legal
Gladiator ∅ Not legal
Penny ∅ Not legal
Duel ✓ Legal

Official rulings

6 rulings · in English, source Scryfall

If the spell has {X} in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.

2026-03-20 · Wizards of the Coast

If you cast a spell "without paying its mana cost," you can't choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those to cast the spell.

2026-03-20 · Wizards of the Coast

You cast the spell while Abstract Performance is resolving and still on the stack. You can't wait to cast it later in the turn. Timing restrictions based on its types are ignored.

2026-03-20 · Wizards of the Coast

You can't look at the cards in the face-down pile until you're instructed to do so or until they're moved to the graveyard (at which point they'll be face up).

2026-03-20 · Wizards of the Coast

If you have fewer than eight cards in your library, the second pile will be smaller than the first. If you have fewer than five cards in your library, only the face-down pile will have cards in it at all, and the second pile will be empty. In that case, your opponent will probably choose to put the pile with cards in it into your graveyard.

2026-03-20 · Wizards of the Coast

You choose which opponent chooses the pile while resolving Abstract Performance.

2026-03-20 · Wizards of the Coast

All printings