Ensnared by the Mara

Ensnared by the Mara card image

Ensnared by the Mara: Sorcery, Doctor Who. MTG card details, printings, market prices, official rulings, and format legality, all in one place on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{2}{R}{R}
Mana value
4
Type
Sorcery
Colour identity
Red (R)
Rarity
Rare
Set
Doctor Who (WHO)
Released
2023-10-13
Collector number
84
Artist
Andrey Kuzinskiy
Commander rank
3,397 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)

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About Ensnared by the Mara

Ensnared by the Mara is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare red sorcery from Doctor Who (WHO), a Commander product released in October 2023. It is collector number 84 in that set, with art by Andrey Kuzinskiy. It costs {2}{R}{R} (two generic and two red mana) to cast, for a mana value of 4. Its colour identity is red. It is legal in Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander and Oathbreaker. Doctor Who is its only printing so far. The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $6.30 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-12).

Card text

Each opponent faces a villainous choice - They exile cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card, then you may cast that card without paying its mana cost, or that player exiles the top four cards of their library and Ensnared by the Mara deals damage equal to the total mana value of those exiled cards to that player.

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $6.30 (as of 2026-11-12).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of Ensnared by the Mara by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal

Other printings of Ensnared by the Mara

The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

PrintingRarityYear
Doctor Who (WHO) #384Rare2023
Doctor Who (WHO) #689Rare2023
Doctor Who (WHO) #975Rare2023

Official rulings

Four official rulings apply to Ensnared by the Mara, newest first.

  • When a player faces a villainous choice, they first choose one of the two options, then all actions in the chosen option are performed.
  • If a spell or ability requires multiple players to face a villainous choice, the result is a little different from other effects in Magic. In that case, the first player in turn order makes their choice and the action for that choice is performed before the next player makes their choice. Then each of the remaining players repeat this process in turn order.
  • A player facing a villainous choice can always choose either option, even if one or both of the options are impossible. For example, if one of the options is to sacrifice a creature, a player who controls no creatures can still choose that option.
  • The opponent chooses whether to exile cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card or to exile the top four cards of their library. They don't choose whether you cast the cards exiled by the first option.

Similar cards

Other sorcery cards with a red colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

In these precons

Ensnared by the Mara is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.

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