Captive Flame
Enchantment
: Target creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons
- Price
- $0.13
- EDHREC rank
- #23500
Captive Flame gives any creature +1/+0 and first strike until end of turn for one red mana — repeatable combat manipulation stapled to an enchantment that never goes away. The cost is that it does nothing on its own and asks you to keep investing mana every turn you want the effect.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Captive Flame fits narrow aggro and combat-matters builds — it is too slow and too incremental for most 100-card strategies that would rather run a pump spell with immediate impact. Competitive Commander formats will never touch it. In Legacy and Vintage it is strictly unplayable; one-mana enchantments that activate for one mana to grant +1/+0 and first strike are not close to the power threshold those formats demand. Modern has more redundancy than it knows what to do with, and Captive Flame offers nothing that red combat tricks or equipment can't do more efficiently.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.13 bulk tier
At $0.13, Captive Flame is deep bulk — buy it out of a commons bin and don't think twice about the price. There is no meaningful demand pressure to push it higher, so treat it as a permanent bulk rare and grab it only if a specific deck calls for it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.