Burst of Strength
Instant
Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature and untap it.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Gatecrash
- Price
- $0.25
- EDHREC rank
- #13247
Burst of Strength untaps a creature and puts a +1/+1 counter on it at instant speed for a single green mana — that combination of untap and counter is the entire reason it exists. Outside of dedicated untap engines like Alaundo the Seer, it's too narrow to justify a slot, but inside them it's an efficient, repeatable trigger that costs almost nothing.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Alaundo the Seer
Alaundo the Seer taps to exile and cast spells, so every untap effect is an extra activation — Burst of Strength is one of the cheapest ways to untap him at instant speed while also advancing his +1/+1 counter synergies, making it a clean two-for-one within the engine.
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 |
Burst of Strength is legal across Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Pauper, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it earns real play in almost none of them. In competitive formats like Legacy and Modern, one mana for an untap and a counter doesn't generate enough board impact to clear the threshold — dedicated combo decks have faster, more redundant lines. Pauper is its most plausible non-Commander home, where cheap tempo pieces can matter, but even there the effect is too narrow without a specific creature worth untapping repeatedly. Commander is where Burst of Strength actually sees play, and only in untap-centric builds where the incremental counter and the free activation stack up across a long game.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.25 bulk tier
At $0.25, Burst of Strength sits firmly in bulk territory — you're not paying for the card, you're paying for the postage. That price reflects its narrow application accurately; it holds value only as long as Alaundo the Seer remains a popular commander, and even then demand is too limited to push it out of bulk.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Alaundo the Seer
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.