Expel MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Instant |
| Released | 2021-04-23 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Strixhaven: School of Mages |
| Set code | STX |
| Number | 18 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Billy Christian |
Key Takeaways
- Expel enables tactical removal of threats, potentially swinging the card advantage in your favor.
- Its instant speed allows for finesse during complex combat, optimizing resource management.
- Demands careful hand and mana management due to its discard requirement and specific mana cost.
Text of card
Exile target tapped creature.
Quintorius was a daydreamer, far happier digging through history books than practicing battle tactics. He agreed with the military academy on only one thing: he did not belong in their ranks.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Expel is at its core a removal spell, efficiently designed to deal with threats on the battlefield. By removing opposing creatures that are tapped, it can tilt the board in your favor and pave the way for your attacks, often resulting in maintaining or even tipping the card advantage towards you.
Resource Acceleration: While Expel does not directly generate resources in the conventional sense, its low-cost requirement enables you to free up mana for other strategic plays within the same turn, effectively accelerating your resource management without compromising board presence.
Instant Speed: The true power of Expel lies in its instant speed, allowing you to navigate the complexity of combat with finesse. By waiting for the perfect moment when an opponent’s creature becomes tapped, you can exploit this tactical advantage, ensuring that your mana is not wasted and your turns are spent efficiently.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Playing Expel comes with a noteworthy downside; it necessitates discarding another card which can set you back when your hand is already running thin. This trade-off can be especially punishing in the late game when each card in hand is vital for maintaining your strategy.
Specific Mana Cost: Expel’s casting cost is pinpoint precise, requiring one white mana and two generic mana. This can be restrictive since it demands at least one source of white mana, potentially limiting its integration into multicolored decks that don’t heavily feature white.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: While not overly expensive, Expel’s mana cost is a considering factor. For three mana, it performs a single-target removal, which might seem inefficient when compared with other removal spells in MTG that offer lower mana costs for similar – or sometimes better – effects. This can affect deck building decisions, as players often look for the most cost-effective removal options.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Expel offers players the flexibility to deal with problematic creatures in a pinch. It fits effortlessly into decks that focus on maintaining control and ensuring that the battlefield stays clear of creatures that could tip the scales in favor of the opponent.
Combo Potential: This card interacts well with strategies that benefit from having creatures repeatedly enter and leave the battlefield. It can be a key piece in decks that rely on such dynamics, enabling you to remove blockers and clear the way for your attacking creatures, all while setting up for potential powerful re-entrant effects.
Meta-Relevance: In a metagame crowded with aggressive creature-based strategies, Expel shines as an efficient answer. It’s particularly useful during your opponents’ combat phases, making it a strategically timed trump card for disrupting their plays and maintaining your tempo.
How to Beat
Expel, as an impactful instant-speed removal tool, can disrupt your board presence significantly during the late game phases. This card shines in formats where it efficiently sends a tapped creature your opponent controls off to exile. To mitigate Expel’s effectiveness, consider maintaining a pace that keeps your creatures untapped during your opponent’s turn. Vigilance becomes highly valuable here, allowing you to attack without leaving your creatures susceptible to Expel’s condition.
Moreover, protecting your key creatures with hexproof or indestructible abilities ensures that Expel cannot target them directly. Spells that grant these protections or creature abilities like “self-blinking,” where a creature temporarily leaves the battlefield only to return untapped, can circumvent Expel’s restrictions. Cards with the latter ability can dodge removal and re-enter the game safely, ready for combat or other actions in your next phase.
Anticipating and playing around removal is a classic strategy in Magic: The Gathering. Expel is no exception, and understanding how and when to apply the strengths of your deck’s mechanics against it can be the key to maintaining your board state and ultimately, securing victory.
Cards like Expel
Expel stands out as a distinctive removal option in MTG, sharing a core function with other cards like Oblivion Ring. Both allow you to deal with threats on the battlefield by removing them from play. While Oblivion Ring can target any nonland permanent, offering broader application, Expel focuses specifically on removing tapped creatures. This narrower focus makes Expel a more situational card, fitting best in decks that force opponents to tap their creatures.
Another similar spell is Pacifism, which, while not removing creatures, neutralizes them by preventing their ability to attack or block. Expel provides a more permanent solution by potentially getting the creature out of the game. However, Pacifism has the advantage of affecting untapped creatures and can be cast at a lower mana cost. Lastly, there’s Banishing Light, akin to Oblivion Ring but with a more modern design. Its ability closely mirrors Expel in the sense of exiling but without the restriction of targeting only tapped creatures.
These comparisons underline that Expel is a useful tool for its mana value and specificity within Magic: The Gathering. It leverages combat scenarios to the player’s advantage, making it a key component in decks built around strategic creature control.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Expel MTG card by a specific set like Strixhaven: School of Mages, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.
For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.
Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.
Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Expel and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Expel has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
