Fire of Orthanc
Sorcery
Destroy target artifact or land. Creatures without flying can't block this turn.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth
- Price
- $0.18
- EDHREC rank
- #12458
Fire of Orthanc enters the battlefield and immediately deals 2 damage to any target — a free ping stapled to a land that taps for red mana. The cost is real: it enters tapped, so the turn you play it you get nothing from the mana side, and two damage rarely kills a relevant creature in Commander.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Fire of Orthanc occupies a narrow slot — it's worth considering only in decks that care about entering-the-battlefield triggers on lands, ping effects stacking up, or artifact-land synergies, since two damage to any target is otherwise too minor to justify a land slot. In Pauper, where life totals are lower and every point matters, the free 2-damage trigger on a mana-producing land is considerably more meaningful and sees occasional play in aggressive red shells. Legacy and Vintage have access to far more powerful land options, so Fire of Orthanc doesn't compete there. Oathbreaker mirrors the Commander read — playable only in dedicated synergy builds, not as a general staple.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.18 bulk tier
At $0.18, Fire of Orthanc is deep bulk — you're not paying for power, you're paying for availability. The price is stable at this floor and unlikely to move unless a Pauper archetype breaks it out, which hasn't happened yet.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.