Backfire
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to you, this Aura deals that much damage to that creature's controller.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #22702
Backfire turns any blue creature targeting you into a liability for its controller, dealing damage equal to that creature's power back at them. It's a cute political deterrent, but one enchantment on one creature, answerable at instant speed, is not a reliable defensive plan in Commander.
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, Backfire is a niche aura that punishes players who send a single blue attacker your way — fine at a table where someone is running a voltron blue commander, nearly useless otherwise. Legacy and Vintage are the only other formats where Backfire is legal, and neither has any meaningful competitive presence for it; tempo-based blue decks in those formats win through countermagic and threats, not single-creature swings into an aura. Oathbreaker shares Commander's multiplayer dynamics, so the same narrow deterrent logic applies there.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Backfire isn't currently available, which itself tells you something — it's an obscure older card with minimal demand. Copies typically surface in bulk bins and low-end buylist territory, so if you want one for a theme deck, expect to pay next to nothing.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.