Aliban's Tower
Instant
Target blocking creature gets +3/+1 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Homelands
- Price
- $0.13
- EDHREC rank
- #27962
Aliban's Tower gives a blocking creature +3/+0 until end of turn for one red mana at instant speed — a combat trick that can turn an unfavorable block into a kill. It's strictly a one-game-only ambush tool with no lasting board impact, which keeps it out of most Commander lists but makes it a reasonable roleplay piece in aggressive or Pauper red strategies.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Aliban's Tower is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but its relevance is almost entirely in Pauper, where combat tricks at common rarity carry real weight and a one-mana pump can decide a race. In Commander, a single-target instant-speed buff that only works on blockers rarely justifies a deck slot — the format's card density and life totals make one-shot tricks nearly invisible. Legacy and Vintage have far more efficient options, and the card simply doesn't appear in those formats in practice. Pauper red and red-white aggro shells are the only realistic homes where Aliban's Tower does anything meaningful.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.13 bulk tier
At $0.13, Aliban's Tower is firmly bulk — the kind of card that comes in a draft chaff pile rather than a singles order. Bulk commons like this hold their floor price by inertia rather than demand, so there's no reason to expect movement in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.