Price of Betrayal is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Remove up to five counters from target artifact, creature, planeswalker, or opponent.
Complete guide
Price of Betrayal is a versatile black sorcery that offers precise control over the resources fueling your opponents' most dangerous permanents. By allowing you to strip away up to five counters for just a single black mana, it serves as an efficient answer to a variety of threats ranging from growing creatures to powerful planeswalkers. Whether you are resetting a loyalty count or removing lethal poison from yourself, this card provides significant utility at a minimal cost.
What It Does
Price of Betrayal targets a single artifact, creature, planeswalker, or opponent and removes up to five counters of your choice from that target. You can choose to remove any combination of different counter types or multiple counters of the same type. It is important to note that while it can target an opponent, it cannot remove emblems, as emblems are not counters.
Step-by-Step Resolution
First, you cast Price of Betrayal and choose a single valid target: an artifact, creature, planeswalker, or opponent. Upon resolution, you choose which counters to remove from that target, up to a maximum of five. If the target has fewer than five counters, you can simply remove all of them. Once the counters are selected, they are removed simultaneously, and the spell finishes resolving.
Common Mistakes
A frequent error is attempting to target multiple permanents or players; however, the spell clearly states it targets one specific object or player. Another misconception involves emblems; because official rulings clarify that emblems are not counters, Price of Betrayal cannot interact with them. Additionally, you cannot split the five counters between a creature and its controller; you must pick one or the other.
When to Play It
This sorcery is best utilized when an opponent's planeswalker is nearing its 'ultimate' ability, allowing you to reset its loyalty significantly. It is also an excellent answer to creatures with +1/+1 counters or artifacts that accumulate charge counters. In formats where players receive counters directly, such as poison or energy, it can serve as a life-saving defensive tool.
Interaction examples
Demonic TutorIf you are facing a planeswalker about to activate a game-winning ability, you can use Demonic Tutor to search your library for Price of Betrayal. Once in hand, you cast it for one black mana, targeting the planeswalker and removing five loyalty counters, likely destroying the planeswalker if its loyalty drops to zero.
ReanimateImagine you use Reanimate to bring back a powerful creature that entered the battlefield with -1/-1 counters or an opponent has placed negative counters on your creature. You can cast Price of Betrayal targeting your own creature to remove those counters, effectively restoring its full strength and mitigating the 'price' you paid to bring it back.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Price of Betrayal
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
Price of Betrayal has only one target. You may remove different kinds of counters from that one target, and you may also remove multiples of the same kind of counter from that one target.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Players don’t normally have counters, but some cards in other sets say that a player “gets” a counter of a certain kind. Notably, emblems aren’t counters.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Price of Betrayal
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.