Failed Fording
Instant
Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. If you control a Desert, surveil 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Outlaws of Thunder Junction
- Price
- $0.06
- EDHREC rank
- #20228
Failed Fording puts a land into play tapped — no combat step, no mana investment, just a free body on board the turn you play it. The catch is that body is a 2/2 that dies at end of turn, making this a one-shot mana fix or blocker rather than a permanent resource.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Failed Fording is bulk filler in Commander — a 2/2 that vanishes at end of turn occupies a slot better spent on ramp that sticks. In aggressive Modern or Pioneer shells it has no competitive home; the effect is too slow and too temporary to matter. Pauper is the one format where a free tapped land with a disposable blocker might occasionally buy a turn, but even there it doesn't clear the bar for inclusion. The card is legal everywhere and relevant nowhere.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.06 bulk tier
At $0.06, Failed Fording sits firmly in bulk territory and will stay there — the effect doesn't scale with power level, so demand has a ceiling. Pick it up only if a build specifically rewards sacrificing creatures or flickering tokens before end of turn, and even then there are better pieces at the same price.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.