Path to Exile

Path to Exile first appeared in Conflux (CON), 6 February 2009. The original record is CON #15, at uncommon, illustrated by Todd Lockwood. Original finish availability: nonfoil, traditional foil.

Use the curated shortlist for meaningful edition differences, then the shared explorer for the wider catalogue. Editorial records reviewed 4 November 2026; current prices and legality can change.

Path to Exile costs {W}, is an Instant and has a white colour identity. It exiles a target creature, then that creature’s controller may search for a basic land, put it onto the battlefield tapped and shuffle.

The land search is optional. If the creature is an illegal target when Path would resolve, none of the spell’s effects happen, including the search. Exiling rather than destroying also avoids a creature dying, so it does not itself trigger abilities that require that creature to die.

That land-versus-life trade-off is the useful comparison with Swords to Plowshares. It explains the card’s identity without requiring a full strategy article.

Conflux (CON) #15, released on 6 February 2009, is the first printing: uncommon, illustrated by Todd Lockwood, with nonfoil and traditional foil. Numerous later regular reprints reuse that illustration, including Modern Masters #25 and Commander Masters #49.

An early DCI promo #24, catalogued in February 2009, introduces Rebecca Guay artwork in foil. Duel Decks: Venser vs. Koth #23 follows with Erica Yang art as a nonfoil deck card. Friday Night Magic 2015 #7 supplies Raf Sarmento artwork in foil. These are different paintings and distributions, rather than one generic promo version.

Secret Lair’s 2021 offerings include two very different ideas. SLD #226 is part of Fblthp: Completely, Utterly, Totally Lost, a five-card borderless panorama by Marija Tiurina. SLD #477 belongs to Secret Lair x Arcane and credits Riot Games. Both records have nonfoil and traditional foil versions.

Commander Masters in 2023 pairs regular #49 with borderless #626 by Ron Spears. The artist change is meaningful even before deciding on foil. The associated art-series card is a display object, not another playable Path to Exile printing.

The 2026 Secret Lair x MSCHF: The Zeta Set is preserved as another distinct collector branch. Its experimental full-art presentation deliberately departs from polished conventional card art. The shortlist identifies SLZ #7, credited to MSCHF and nonfoil-only. The wider catalogue also distinguishes #128 and #249; those extra numbers should be inspected individually rather than treated as foil upgrades to #7.

Lockwood: the original image appears across numerous regular reprints. Set and condition still matter, but the familiar illustration does not identify a first Conflux copy by itself.

Guay, Yang and Sarmento: DCI #24, DDI #23 and F15 #7 each offer a different artistic interpretation. Promo wording alone does not identify which artist or finish is being sold.

Tiurina: #226 is one part of a five-card connected panorama. Choose it as a standalone picture or as part of that particular art set. Borderless does not mean that all its artwork belongs to one separate new card.

Riot Games, Spears and MSCHF: #477 uses Arcane imagery, #626 provides a different borderless Magic illustration, and SLZ #7 takes the experimental Zeta approach. The underlying spell is still Path to Exile across all three.

CON #15, MMA #25, CMM #49 and borderless CMM #626 offer nonfoil and traditional foil. The early DCI #24 and FNM #7 promos are foil-only; DDI #23 is nonfoil-only.

SLD #226 and #477 each have nonfoil and traditional foil. A panorama or crossover frame does not force a foil preference. SLZ #7 is nonfoil-only despite being a collector-focused experimental release.

A missing price is not a finish record. The shortlist establishes no etched, textured, surge or serialized version for these particular rows. Other catalogue entries can have their own treatments; verify those exact records rather than extending a product label to every Path.

For the first printing: CON #15 is the historical target, with nonfoil and foil choices. Later copies with the same artwork are still later editions.

For a specific promo artist: DCI #24 is Guay; F15 #7 is Sarmento. For Yang’s nonfoil image, choose DDI #23 instead.

For a connected art collection: SLD #226 is the Tiurina panorama piece. For Arcane, identify #477 rather than using a generic Secret Lair image.

For borderless Magic art: compare CMM #626 with regular #49. For a deliberately experimental design, inspect SLZ #7 and its physical presentation before buying.

Our collector comparison is DCI #24 by Rebecca Guay and SLD #226 by Marija Tiurina. The first is an early foil promo; the second is an artwork-led panorama piece with two finish choices. Their differences tell more of Path’s history than a list of interchangeable set symbols.

For a nonfoil deck copy with an individual borderless image, compare CMM #626. The choice is about the illustration you want to play with, not an unverified cheapest-printing ranking.

Swords to Plowshares — Compare the other defining one-mana white exile spell, with a different drawback.

Lightning Bolt — Explore another compact spell with extensive promo and Secret Lair art.

Teferi's Protection — Compare white interaction across original and premium editions.

Counterspell — Explore a similarly long-running spell’s frame and artwork changes.

Browse the complete Card Guides directory. For deck work, the shared Build a Deck action passes the selected printing to Deck Studio, where current legality and role eligibility are checked independently of this editorial guide.

Reviewed 4 November 2026 against accessible catalogue records and indexed catalogue extracts, with official product or policy references where applicable. Existing ManaScout text was audited rather than treated as evidence. Direct Scryfall API access was unavailable during this editorial review; the shared live explorer continues to use its existing integration.

• Catalogue: Conflux (CON) #15
• Catalogue: DCI Promos (DCI) #24
• Catalogue: Duel Decks: Venser vs. Koth (DDI) #23
• Catalogue: Modern Masters (MMA) #25
• Catalogue: Friday Night Magic 2015 (F15) #7
• Catalogue: Secret Lair: Fblthp (SLD) #226
• Catalogue: Secret Lair x Arcane (SLD) #477
• Catalogue: Commander Masters (CMM) #49
• Catalogue: Commander Masters (CMM) #626
• Catalogue: The Zeta Set (SLZ) #7
• magery.com: path to exile
• magic.wizards.com: checking back in with secret lair
• mtg.wtf: Path to Exile