Festering Wound
Enchantment — Aura
Enchant creature
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put an infection counter on this Aura.
At the beginning of the upkeep of enchanted creature's controller, this Aura deals X damage to that player, where X is the number of infection counters on this Aura.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Urza's Destiny
- Price
- $0.33
- EDHREC rank
- #21513
Festering Wound is a slow-burn enchantment that scales damage with its own age — it deals 1 damage on upkeep the first turn, 2 the second, and so on, eventually threatening to kill whatever it's attached to over several turns. The cost is time: against fast tables it accomplishes nothing, and against any deck packing instant-speed removal, it just eats the enchantment before it ever gets lethal.
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 |
In Commander, Festering Wound occupies a narrow niche — it's a pet-card pick in Aura-based or -1/-1 counter strategies, where the incremental damage synergizes with counters or attrition plans, but it rarely makes a competitive 99. Legacy and Vintage allow it, but neither format has any interest in a three-mana enchantment that takes multiple turns to threaten a kill when faster interaction exists everywhere. Oathbreaker is the one format where a slow grinding enchantment might find a home if your signature spell or planeswalker cares about incremental damage, but even there it's a stretch.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.33 bulk tier
At $0.33, Festering Wound is deep bulk — the price reflects exactly how narrow its applications are. It won't appreciate meaningfully without a new card that creates a specific synergy, so buy it only if you have an immediate home for it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.