Fists of Flame
Instant
Draw a card. Until end of turn, target creature gains trample and gets +1/+0 for each card you've drawn this turn. (A creature with trample can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #1953
Fists of Flame gives a creature +1/+0 plus +1/+0 for each card drawn this turn, then replaces itself with a draw — all for one red mana at instant speed. In a vacuum that's fine; in a Zada, Hedron Grinder deck that's copied to every creature you control while you've already drawn four cards this turn, it ends games.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Zada, Hedron Grinder
Fists of Flame is a core piece in Zada, Hedron Grinder decks precisely because Zada copies it to every creature you control — the draw-replacing effect fires for each copy, fueling a chain of cantrips that ends with a lethal alpha strike in the same turn.
Feather, the Redeemed
Feather, the Redeemed returns Fists of Flame to hand at end of turn, so you get a free cantrip every combat and a growing pump whenever your card draw is flowing.
The Howling Abomination
The Howling Abomination rewards spellcasting volume, and Fists of Flame fits cleanly as a low-cost instant that replaces itself while converting the deck's wheel-fueled card draw into immediate power.
Vadrik, Astral Archmage
Vadrik, Astral Archmage reduces instant and sorcery costs as power grows, meaning Fists of Flame can eventually cost nothing while still drawing a card and pumping a creature mid-combat.
Arjun, the Shifting Flame
Arjun, the Shifting Flame wheels your hand every time you cast a spell, so Fists of Flame is both a trigger and a direct beneficiary — cast it, wheel, and the power bonus counts all the cards you just drew.
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 |
Fists of Flame is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but competitive play outside Commander is essentially nonexistent — the effect is too narrow for formats where cantrips compete with Brainstorm and Opt. Pauper is the one non-Commander format where it could theoretically slot into a dedicated go-wide pump shell, but no established archetype asks for it. Commander is where Fists of Flame earns its keep, specifically in spell-copying and spell-recursion strategies where the cantrip and the pump both scale beyond their face value.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Fists of Flame is firmly bulk — you can pick up a playset for less than a dollar. Bulk commons this deeply embedded in popular commanders like Zada, Hedron Grinder rarely spike, so there's no urgency, but there's also no reason to wait.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.