Blast of Genius
Sorcery
Choose any target. Draw three cards, then discard a card. Blast of Genius deals damage equal to the discarded card's mana value to that permanent or player.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- RU
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Magic Online Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #16389
Blast of Genius draws three cards and deals damage equal to the highest converted mana cost among them — all on a single six-mana instant, which is a legitimate two-for-one in formats that reward explosive turns. The cost is real: six mana at sorcery speed with no guarantee on the damage, so it earns its slot in spell-slinger builds and almost nowhere else, with Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot being the clearest home.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot
Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot cares about casting noncreature spells and rewarding spell volume with prowess triggers, which makes Blast of Genius a natural fit — it refuels the hand while pinging a target, all in one cast that advances Lilah's damage-through-evasion gameplan.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Blast of Genius is a Commander card through and through — the singleton format's slower clock and multiplayer life totals give it room to breathe, and spell-slinger commanders can chain it into enough payoffs to justify six mana. In Modern or Pioneer it's unplayable on rate; six-mana sorcery-speed draw spells are not competing with the format staples, and the damage rider is too random to build around in 60-card formats. Legacy and Vintage are legal but irrelevant — nothing about Blast of Genius is close to what those formats are doing. Stick to Commander, specifically in Izzet or Temur shells where high-CMC spells inflate the damage output and draw density matters more than speed.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Blast of Genius isn't available in the current feed, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for a live number. It sees niche Commander play rather than broad demand, which typically keeps cards like this in bulk-rare territory — worth grabbing if you're building the right deck, not worth speculating on.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.