Branching Bolt
Instant
Choose one or both —
• Branching Bolt deals 3 damage to target creature with flying.
• Branching Bolt deals 3 damage to target creature without flying.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- GR
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Shards of Alara
- Price
- $0.14
- EDHREC rank
- #23684
Branching Bolt trades one card for up to two creatures — one flier, one non-flier — at instant speed for three mana. It's efficient enough for Commander, but it competes with removal that hits any permanent type, which keeps it off most optimized lists.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Branching Bolt occupies the low end of acceptable removal — three mana at instant speed is fine, but the targeting restriction means it blanks against artifact creatures, sacrifice outlets, and any board state that doesn't split neatly between fliers and ground creatures. Pauper is where Branching Bolt earns real respect: at common, two-for-one removal at instant speed is hard to find, and the conditional targeting matters far less when the format's creatures are mostly vanilla threats. In Legacy and Vintage, the card is legal but invisible — formats that kill you on turn one don't slow down for conditional three-mana spells. Oathbreaker mirrors Commander's verdict: fine at the kitchen table, squeezed out at higher power.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.14 bulk tier
At $0.14, Branching Bolt is deep bulk — buy a playset without thinking about it. The price won't move; this is a card that fills a slot in budget Commander or Pauper lists and nothing more.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.