Batwing Brume
Instant
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn if 
was spent to cast this spell. Each player loses 1 life for each attacking creature they control if 
was spent to cast this spell. (Do both if was spent.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BW
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Eventide
- Price
- $8.77
- EDHREC rank
- #6659
Batwing Brume stops a lethal alpha strike cold — preventing all combat damage from attacking creatures if you paid white, then draining each opponent for each attacker if you paid black — for just two mana at instant speed. It's the kind of card Zoraline, Cosmos Caller builds around specifically, but any Orzhov shell that wants a fog with upside should be running it.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Zoraline, Cosmos Caller
Zoraline, Cosmos Caller triggers off life loss, and Batwing Brume is one of the most efficient ways in the format to make multiple opponents lose life at instant speed — paying both white and black means every attacker at the table becomes a drain trigger on the same turn you survive the swing.
Ardbert, Warrior of Darkness
Ardbert, Warrior of Darkness cares about opponents losing life, and Batwing Brume can hit every player at the table in a single combat step — the drain half scales with board size in a way almost no other cheap instant can match.
Shadrix Silverquill
Shadrix Silverquill plays a political game where surviving long enough to attack matters, and Batwing Brume doubles as a fog and a life-drain engine, letting the deck punish the biggest aggressor while staying above the life threshold Shadrix needs.
Queen Marchesa
Queen Marchesa decks often hold the Monarch by discouraging attacks, and Batwing Brume is a cheap, hidden deterrent — once opponents know it's in the deck, the threat of it does almost as much work as casting it.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Batwing Brume is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but Commander is where it actually sees play. In Legacy and Vintage the card is simply too narrow — dedicated fog effects don't fit in those formats' faster, more linear game plans, and the life-drain upside doesn't close games at that speed. Modern is where it has the most theoretical non-Commander footing, particularly in life-gain or drain-based combo shells, but it remains fringe there. Commander is its home because multiplayer combat is frequent, the drain hits all opponents simultaneously, and two mana at instant speed is an absurdly efficient rate for the effect.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Darkness fills the fog half for under $1 and stops all combat damage outright, though it's mono-black and loses the drain entirely. Ethereal Haze does the same thing in white for pennies but again has no upside — neither replacement comes close to replicating what makes Batwing Brume worth running, which is the combination of protection and drain on one card at instant speed.
Price Context
Current price
$8.77 mid tier
At $8.77, Batwing Brume sits in the mid tier — notable for a two-mana instant with a narrow effect, but justified by its unique role in Zoraline and Orzhov life-drain strategies where no other single card does the same job. It's a specialist card at a specialist price, and the demand is stable enough that the tag isn't going anywhere.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.