Deadly Tempest
Sorcery
Destroy all creatures. Each player loses life equal to the number of creatures they controlled that were destroyed this way.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander 2015
- Price
- $1.18
- EDHREC rank
- #3421
Deadly Tempest clears every creature on the board and then drains each opponent for the number of creatures they lost — six mana for a wrath that punishes the player who went widest. It's not in the conversation for creature-light or token-averse builds, but any deck that wants life loss stapled to a sweeper, or any Mutate commander like Otrimi, the Ever-Playful that needs to reset opposing boards while banking value, should run it over a vanilla wrath. The Argothian Elder comparison is a useful gut check: if your opponent's board is one or two creatures, this is overcosted; if the table is flooded, the drain can end the game.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Otrimi, the Ever-Playful
Otrimi, the Ever-Playful builds around stacking mutations on a single creature, which means opposing token swarms and go-wide boards are the deck's worst nightmare — Deadly Tempest clears them while converting every creature that dies into a life-loss trigger against the player who spawned them.
Kardur, Doomscourge
Kardur, Doomscourge forces opponents into combat, shrinking their boards before the sweeper ever resolves; Deadly Tempest then mops up the survivors and drains for whatever slipped through the goaded carnage.
Mogis, God of Slaughter
Mogis, God of Slaughter is a pure attrition engine that wants every life total bleeding every turn, and Deadly Tempest layers a burst drain on top of Mogis's steady grind — the combination can end games that a normal wrath would just reset.
Baba Lysaga, Night Witch
Baba Lysaga, Night Witch rewards sacrificing permanents and watching opponents lose life, so Deadly Tempest fits the deck's death-trigger economy while simultaneously acting as the board reset Sultai control shells need at the six-mana slot.
Kotis, the Fangkeeper
Kotis, the Fangkeeper cares about creatures dying and life totals shifting, two things Deadly Tempest delivers simultaneously; the drain clause turns a necessary board wipe into an unexpected win condition when the table is overextended.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Deadly Tempest is a Commander card through and through — its drain clause scales with the multiplayer board state in a way that's almost irrelevant in one-on-one formats, where opponents rarely control enough creatures for the life loss to matter. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but competes with Wrath of God, Toxic Deluge, and Damnation, all of which cost less mana and don't rely on opponents overcommitting to generate value. Oathbreaker gives it a second home since the smaller deck size and faster games mean a six-mana sweeper needs to do extra work — and the drain trigger delivers it. Commander is where Deadly Tempest earns its slot: four-player games routinely produce the bloated boards where the life loss goes from incidental to decisive.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Argothian ElderWirewood LodgeForbidden OrchardDeadly Tempest
Each opponent loses the game; Infinite creature tokens for opponents; Infinite death triggers for opponents; Infinite ETB for opponents; Infinite lifeloss; Infinite LTB for opponents
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$1.18 cheap tier
At $1.18, Deadly Tempest sits comfortably in the cheap tier — it's an easy include that won't stress a budget and doesn't need to be traded for or prioritized over expensive staples. Demand stays flat because the card fills a specific role rather than a universal one, so the price is unlikely to spike unless a high-profile Rakdos or drain-matters commander drives mass adoption.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.