Delayed Blast Fireball
Instant
Delayed Blast Fireball deals 2 damage to each opponent and each creature they control. If this spell was cast from exile, it deals 5 damage to each opponent and each creature they control instead.
Foretell 
(During your turn, you may pay 
and exile this card from your hand face down. Cast it on a later turn for its foretell cost.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
- Price
- $17.67
- EDHREC rank
- #1340
Delayed Blast Fireball hits every opponent for a meaningful chunk at instant speed, and if you foretell it, the base damage jumps from 2 to 7 — making it one of the few X-spells that punishes the table just for casting it on-curve. Commanders like Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald that care about casting spells from exile turn the foretell step itself into an additional payoff, so the card is doing double duty before it even resolves.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald
Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald triggers off spells cast from exile, so foretelling Delayed Blast Fireball and then casting it from exile generates two Wolf tokens on top of the damage — the card fits the engine so precisely that it appears in over 77% of Faldorn lists.
Loot, the Key to Everything
Loot, the Key to Everything rewards casting spells in unconventional ways, and the foretell mechanic of Delayed Blast Fireball feeds directly into that "cast from anywhere but hand" theme, making it a natural slot in nearly half of all Loot decks.
Gwen Stacy
Gwen Stacy cares about instants and sorceries that deal damage, and Delayed Blast Fireball delivers a scalable, table-wide hit at instant speed — exactly the kind of spell Gwen Stacy wants to recur or copy for maximum reach.
Gandalf of the Secret Fire
Gandalf of the Secret Fire copies the first instant or sorcery you cast each turn, and Delayed Blast Fireball's damage doubles when foretold, so a Gandalf copy of the foretold version is a clean two-for-one that can end games on the spot.
Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival
Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival incentivizes casting spells that create artifacts or trigger on casting from unusual zones, and Delayed Blast Fireball's foretell step slots into that pattern — showing up in over 43% of Pia Nalaar lists because the damage and the casting sequence both advance her game plan.
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 |
Commander is where Delayed Blast Fireball does its best work — three opponents means the base 2 damage on a foretold cast is already 6 total, and the scaled version threatens to end games outright. Legacy and Vintage are legal homes on paper, but burn in those formats wants efficiency over flexibility, and paying three mana on foretell plus the X cost is too slow against linear combo. Oathbreaker is the other format worth noting; the smaller life totals make the damage ceiling matter faster, and any planeswalker commander that benefits from clearing blockers appreciates the table-wide reach.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Electrodominance and Earthquake both fill the "scalable red damage to multiple targets" role for under $2 and are worth considering if Delayed Blast Fireball's price is the sticking point. The trade-off is real: neither has the foretell bonus that pushes the base damage to 7, so you're giving up the burst ceiling that makes the card worth running in the first place.
Price Context
Current price
$17.67 mid tier
At $17.67, Delayed Blast Fireball sits in the mid tier — expensive enough to feel like a deliberate include, not a throwaway slot. It sees broad Commander play across foretell, spellslinger, and group-slug strategies, which keeps demand steady, so the price is unlikely to crater.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.