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Engineered Explosives

Artifact

Sunburst (This artifact enters with a charge counter on it for each color of mana spent to cast it.)
{2}, Sacrifice this artifact: Destroy each nonland permanent with mana value equal to the number of charge counters on this artifact.

CMC
0
Mana cost
{X}
Color identity
C
Rarity
rare
Set
Ultimate Masters
Price
$5.22
EDHREC rank
#12719
Buy on TCGplayer
Engineered Explosives card art
Engineered Explosives answers any permanent type on any mana value for two mana, and the sunburst mechanic means a multicolor deck can set it to wipe tokens, hate pieces, or stax at will. At roughly $5, it's the cleanest catch-all sweeper that doesn't care what you're destroying — ask Cavalier of Dawn how it feels to lose its artifact and enchantment removal in one card, or watch Fblthp, Lost on the Range tutor it off the top to clear a path.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Fblthp, Lost on the Range

Fblthp, Lost on the Range

17.9% of decks · synergy 0.17

Fblthp, Lost on the Range plots cards off the top of the library, and Engineered Explosives sits there waiting to be found the turn you actually need a board answer — the combination turns a reactive tool into a tutorable, on-demand reset button.

02
Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire

Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire

6.7% of decks · synergy 0.07

Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire's boast ability puts any card on top of the library, so Engineered Explosives becomes a guaranteed draw whenever Varragoth connects; black-heavy lists often struggle with artifact and enchantment removal, and this is one of the cleanest solutions available.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

In Commander, Engineered Explosives earns its slot as a flexible answer that scales with your color count — most four- or five-color decks can reliably set it anywhere from zero to four, covering tokens, hate bears, Rhystic Study, or an opposing combo piece. Modern is where Engineered Explosives made its name, sweeping Soul Sisters tokens, Aether Vial on zero, or cheap spell-based payoffs without touching your own higher-cost permanents. Legacy and Vintage include it as a safety valve against fast, low-to-the-ground strategies where pinpoint mass removal at instant-adjacent speed matters. Oathbreaker runs it for the same reasons as Commander, compressed into a faster and more powerful environment where answers at any mana value are a premium.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Ratchet Bomb does the same job — set a counter, eventually blow up everything at that value — but the slowness is real: opponents see it coming and play around it in a way they can't against Engineered Explosives. Aether Spellbomb, Pernicious Deed, and Nevinyrral's Disk each cover parts of the same design space at lower prices, but none match the precision of hitting one specific mana value without touching the rest of your board.

Price Context

Current price

$5.22 mid tier

At $5.22, Engineered Explosives sits in a comfortable mid-tier — expensive enough to feel like a real inclusion, cheap enough that it belongs in any non-budget list that can support it. Multiple reprints have kept the price from spiking, and given how frequently it sees print in Masters-style sets, it's unlikely to climb significantly from here.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.