Castle Vantress
Land
This land enters tapped unless you control an Island.
: Add 
.
, : Scry 2.
- CMC
- 0
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
- Price
- $0.63
- EDHREC rank
- #931
Castle Vantress gives blue decks a land that scrys 2 for two mana — real card selection stapled to a mana source, at the cost of entering tapped. Galadriel of Lothlórien turns every scry into a draw trigger, which makes Castle Vantress less of a utility land and more of a repeatable engine piece.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Galadriel of Lothlórien
Galadriel of Lothlórien draws a card whenever you scry, so Castle Vantress's activated ability stops being a consolation prize and becomes a hard card draw for two mana at instant speed.
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa wants the top of the library to be a Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, or Serpent at the right moment — Castle Vantress lets you arrange that on demand before paying the trigger cost.
Elminster
Elminster puts loyalty counters on himself whenever you scry, so Castle Vantress is one of the cleanest activators in the deck: two mana buys two scrys and two counters toward his next ability.
Zimone, Mystery Unraveler
Zimone, Mystery Unraveler cares about manipulating the top of the library, and Castle Vantress provides low-commitment, repeatable top-deck control that keeps her draw-two conditions live without spending a spell slot.
Elrond, Master of Healing
Elrond, Master of Healing triggers off scrying, making Castle Vantress a land that contributes directly to his life-gain and card-draw loops every turn you leave two mana up.
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 |
In Commander, Castle Vantress earns its slot in any blue deck that values scry — which is most of them — because a land that produces value on its own is never dead. In competitive formats like Modern and Legacy, the enters-tapped clause is a real cost in tempo-sensitive games, so it's mostly outclassed by fetchlands and cantrips that do the same job faster. Pioneer is the friendliest non-Commander environment for Castle Vantress, where the mana bar is lower and slower blue control shells can absorb the tempo hit. Vintage doesn't need it — the format has too many free or trivially cheap ways to dig. Castle Vantress is at its best in 100-card singleton, where consistent scry density is hard to achieve and a land that does it for free (slot-wise) is genuinely valuable.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.63 bulk tier
At $0.63, Castle Vantress is bulk — an easy auto-include for blue Commander decks with no financial friction. It's a high-print-run rare that has settled at this floor and is unlikely to move without a reprint in a Commander precon that spikes demand.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Galadriel of Lothlórien
- Kenessos, Priest of Thassa
- Elminster
- Zimone, Mystery Unraveler
- Elrond, Master of Healing
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.