Armageddon
Sorcery
Destroy all lands.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- World Championship Decks 1998
- Price
- $7.40
- EDHREC rank
- #4010
Armageddon resets the board to zero lands — your opponents included — so the only way to run it without conceding the game yourself is to already be ahead on the board or immune to the effect, which is exactly what Avacyn, Angel of Hope provides with her indestructible clause. Four mana to lock everyone else out of the game is one of the most powerful tempo plays in Commander; the social cost is real, but so is the win rate.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Avacyn, Angel of Hope makes your own lands indestructible, so Armageddon becomes a one-sided effect — your board survives intact while every opponent is set back to zero mana, and a 8/8 flying vigilance angel closes the game before they recover.
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
Lavinia, Azorius Renegade punishes players for casting spells without paying their mana costs, and a post-Armageddon board where no one has lands to pay for anything turns her static ability into a near-total lockout on non-creature spells.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV already taxes every spell opponents want to cast; landing Armageddon while Augustin is in play means opponents are paying more for spells they can't even cast because their lands are gone, creating a soft lock that's very difficult to break out of.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Armageddon is a high-variance political grenade — it ends friendships and games in equal measure, and it's only correct to cast it when you're already positioned to win before anyone rebuilds. Legacy and Vintage have it available, but four-mana sorceries that don't immediately win the game rarely see play in those formats, where speed and efficiency filter out most symmetrical effects. Oathbreaker is the other format worth noting: with a planeswalker as your commander already on board, Armageddon can lock opponents out while you tick toward an ultimate. For most competitive play, Armageddon is a Commander card — the multiplayer context and the presence of indestructible or land-protection synergies are what make it worth the slot.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Ravages of War is the functional reprint and costs significantly more, so it's not a budget option — the real alternatives are Cataclysm and Catastrophe, both of which give opponents some choice in what they keep and therefore hit softer but come at a lower price point. If the goal is asymmetry rather than total destruction, Wind-Scarred Crag effects won't get you there, but Decree of Annihilation goes harder than Armageddon at the cost of also wiping graveyards and hands — a different trade-off, not strictly a substitute.
Price Context
Current price
$7.40 mid tier
At $7.40, Armageddon sits in the mid tier — not a budget inclusion, but not a barrier to entry for anyone building a serious white stax or prison deck. It has been reprinted enough times to stay in this range rather than spiking, so it's a stable pickup at current prices.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.