Lava Hounds
Creature — Dog
Haste
When this creature enters, it deals 4 damage to you.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Eighth Edition
- Price
- $0.35
- EDHREC rank
- #29111
Lava Hounds enters as a 4/4 haste for four mana — solid rate on paper — but the enters-the-battlefield damage to you makes it a liability the moment you're behind on life. Bulk rare for a reason: there are too many four-mana red creatures that don't cost you 4 life.
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 |
Lava Hounds is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but sees essentially no competitive play in any of them. In Commander, 4 life is negligible damage to 40 starting life, which is the card's most charitable context — but even there, red has access to Hellspark Elemental, Robber of the Rich, and a dozen other four-drops that don't come with a drawback. In Legacy and Modern the rate is simply obsolete; aggressive red decks have never touched it. Oathbreaker mirrors Commander's logic but with 20 life, where 4 self-damage starts to actually sting.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.35 bulk tier
At $0.35, Lava Hounds is deep bulk — priced exactly where demand says it belongs. Nothing about its power level or casual appeal suggests that changes.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.