Caustic Tar
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant land
Enchanted land has "
: Target player loses 3 life."
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Odyssey
- Price
- $0.17
- EDHREC rank
- #22629
Caustic Tar turns any land into a three-mana-per-turn life drain engine that opponents can't easily interact with short of destroying the land itself. Six mana to set up and three to activate is steep for 3 life, and in competitive Commander pods that math never closes fast enough to matter.
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 |
Caustic Tar sees essentially no play in Legacy, Modern, or Pioneer — three mana per activation for 3 life drain is unplayable when those formats end games on turns three through five. Commander is the only realistic home, and even there it sits at the margins: 99-card piles can support slower engines, and enchanting a basic land insulates it from enchantment removal, but six mana to set up and three per tick is too slow for the format's typical threat density. It finds the most traction in dedicated life-total-matters builds, where the incremental drain stacks with other sources rather than carrying the plan alone.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.17 bulk tier
At $0.17, Caustic Tar is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not power. That price accurately reflects its impact: it's a pickup only if your commander specifically rewards land-based drain, and even then expect it to underperform.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.