Boreal Elemental
Creature — Elemental
Flying
Spells your opponents cast that target this creature cost 
more to cast.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Core Set 2020
- Price
- $0.10
- EDHREC rank
- #27999
Boreal Elemental locks down an opponent's entire blue spell suite for a turn the moment it enters, which is a meaningful tempo swing at five mana. A 3/4 flyer with ward 2 is a reasonable body, but the ETB is the reason you're running it.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Boreal Elemental fills a niche anti-blue role that most blue decks ignore — it punishes the table's countermagic-heavy player for a full turn cycle, which can be enough to land a critical spell uncountered. Pauper is its most relevant competitive home, where common-legal flyers with meaningful ETBs can pull real weight in slower blue skies builds. In Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer, Boreal Elemental is too slow and too narrow; five mana for a situational hate piece doesn't make the cut in formats where the game is often decided by turn four. Vintage ignores it entirely for the same reason.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.10 bulk tier
At $0.10, Boreal Elemental is deep bulk — the kind of card you pick out of a dollar box or grab as a throw-in. That price is stable because demand is narrow, so don't expect movement in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.