Intimidation Bolt
Instant
Intimidation Bolt deals 3 damage to target creature. Other creatures can't attack this turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- RW
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Alara Reborn
- Price
- $0.51
- EDHREC rank
- #13148
Intimidation Bolt deals 3 damage to a creature and locks every other creature your opponents control out of attacking for the turn — a two-for-one tempo play that doubles as a fog on a stick. At three mana in Boros colors, it's a clean fit for multicolor-spell-matters builds, and General Ferrous Rokiric commanders who cast it also spin up a 4/4 Golem token.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
General Ferrous Rokiric
General Ferrous Rokiric triggers off every multicolor spell, and Intimidation Bolt qualifies — so you pick off a blocker, freeze the board's attackers, and drop a 4/4 Golem all from one card. Nearly half of all Rokiric decks run it for exactly that reason.
Firesong and Sunspeaker
Firesong and Sunspeaker gains life off red instant and sorcery spells and can redirect white lifegain into direct damage, which makes Intimidation Bolt a damage source, a board-freeze, and a life-trigger in one package. The synergy is clean enough that over a third of Firesong and Sunspeaker decks include it.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Intimidation Bolt sees essentially no play in Legacy, Modern, or Vintage — the effect is too slow and too narrow for formats where games end before the board-freeze clause matters. Commander is its real home: multiplayer tables mean there are almost always multiple attackers worth locking down, and the three-damage clause handles utility creatures while the frost effect protects you through a full round of combat. In Oathbreaker, where games are faster and life totals lower, the card is legal but competes against tighter two-for-ones that close games rather than buy time.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.51 bulk tier
At $0.51, Intimidation Bolt sits firmly in bulk territory — easy to pick up as a throw-in or from a bulk bin. For a card with genuine Commander utility, that price is unlikely to move much given its low cross-format demand, but it costs you almost nothing to test.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.