Duel Tactics
Sorcery
Duel Tactics deals 1 damage to target creature. It can't block this turn.
Flashback 
(You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #23458
Duel Tactics forces an opponent's creature to fight one of yours — removal that dodges traditional counterspell protection and clears a blocker at instant speed. The cost is real: it requires you to have a creature worth pointing at something, so it's a non-starter in empty-board states.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Duel Tactics is fringe at best — fight spells compete with unconditional removal like Swords to Plowshares, and the three-mana instant-speed rate isn't efficient enough to earn a slot in most lists. It has a narrow home in decks that generate large or indestructible creatures and want redundancy beyond Bite effects. Across eternal formats like Legacy and Vintage, it simply doesn't see play; the card pool offers far cleaner answers at lower cost. Modern and Pioneer are similar stories — green fight pieces exist at more competitive rates, and dedicated creature-combat decks rarely need the effect at all.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, Duel Tactics is deep bulk — the kind of card you pull from a box rather than order. That price reflects demand accurately, and there's no meaningful upside scenario that would move the needle.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.