Heartless Act

Heartless Act card image

Heartless Act: Instant, Commander Masters. Choose one - • Destroy target creature with no counters on it. Printings, prices, and format legality on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{1}{B}
Mana value
2
Type
Instant
Colour identity
Black (B)
Rarity
Uncommon
Set
Commander Masters (CMM)
Released
2023-08-04
Collector number
166
Artist
Ryan Pancoast
Commander rank
4,790 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)

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About Heartless Act

Heartless Act is a Magic: The Gathering card, an uncommon black instant from Commander Masters (CMM), a Masters set released in August 2023. It is collector number 166 in that set, with art by Ryan Pancoast. It costs {1}{B} (one generic and one black mana) to cast, for a mana value of 2. Its colour identity is black. It is legal in Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Standard Brawl, Historic, Timeless, Alchemy, Gladiator and Penny Dreadful. It has been printed in 4 sets, from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (2020) to Avatar: The Last Airbender (2025). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.19 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-11).

Card text

Choose one -

• Destroy target creature with no counters on it.

• Remove up to three counters from target creature.

"It's them or us." -General Kudro

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.19 (as of 2026-11-11).

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

Format legality

Legality of Heartless Act by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

StandardLegal
PioneerLegal
ModernLegal
LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
BrawlLegal
Standard BrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
TimelessLegal
AlchemyLegal
GladiatorLegal
Penny DreadfulLegal

Other printings of Heartless Act

Heartless Act has been printed in 4 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

PrintingRarityYear
Avatar: The Last Airbender (TLA) #103Uncommon2025
The List (PLST) #IKO-91Uncommon2024
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (IKO) #366Uncommon2020
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (IKO) #91Uncommon2020

Official rulings

Four official rulings apply to Heartless Act, newest first.

  • If you choose the second mode for Heartless Act, you choose which counters to remove from the creature, no matter who controls the creature. You may choose counters of different kinds.
  • If you choose the first mode and the creature gains a counter in response, you can't remove counters from it instead; the spell just doesn't resolve. Similarly, if you choose the second mode and the creature loses its counters in response, you can't destroy it instead.
  • If you choose the second mode for Heartless Act, you choose which counters to remove from the creature, no matter who controls the creature. You may choose counters of different kinds.
  • If you choose the first mode and the creature gains a counter in response, you can't remove counters from it instead; the spell just doesn't resolve. Similarly, if you choose the second mode and the creature loses its counters in response, you can't destroy it instead.

Similar cards

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

Mentioned in these guides

These guides mention Heartless Act.

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