Berserk
Instant
Cast this spell only before the combat damage step.
Target creature gains trample and gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is its power. At the beginning of the next end step, destroy that creature if it attacked this turn.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Vintage Masters
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #3862
Berserk doubles a creature's power and grants trample until end of turn — cast it on an attacker and you're routinely dealing lethal in a single swing. The cost is real: the creature is destroyed at end of turn, which matters less when that creature just ended the game, but stings hard when the opponent blocks and survives. Wolverine, Best There Is turns that downside into an upside, triggering on damage dealt rather than caring whether the source lives.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Wolverine, Best There Is
Wolverine, Best There Is cares about dealing excess combat damage, and Berserk effectively doubles that output in a single attack — the creature dies, but Wolverine has already triggered. At an 82% inclusion rate across over ten thousand decks, it's the defining home for the card.
Kotis, the Fangkeeper
Kotis, the Fangkeeper builds around large, trampling threats, and Berserk is one of the cleanest ways to convert a big attacker into a one-shot kill before blockers can neutralize it.
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes generates a large Hamster token and incentivizes connecting with it for value — Berserk turns a single Hamster swing into a threat that demands an answer or ends a player's game.
Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder
Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder pumps attacking creatures, and Berserk stacks on top of that bonus to push any swinging threat into lethal territory, frequently ending games in the midpoint of a single combat step.
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, Berserk is a one-mana spell that routinely ends a player's participation in the game — the math on a doubled-power trampler hitting a 40-life opponent works out faster than intuition suggests, especially in a format stocked with 5/5s and 6/6s. Legacy is the other competitive home: Berserk has historically shown up as a finisher alongside Invigorate and Become Immense in Infect, where hitting ten poison counters collapses the required power threshold dramatically. Vintage allows it as well, though the format's density of interaction makes the instant-speed timing less reliable. Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and Pauper don't get access to it, which keeps it a card for older formats where one-mana blowout spells are the expected texture.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't available in the current feed for Berserk, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for a live number before buying. Historically it's carried a meaningful price tag given its Old School pedigree and the spike in Wolverine, Best There Is decks driving recent demand — treat any price you see as potentially stale until you verify.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Wolverine, Best There Is
- Kotis, the Fangkeeper
- Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes
- Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.