Lavaball Trap
Instant — Trap
If an opponent had two or more lands enter the battlefield under their control this turn, you may pay 
rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Destroy two target lands. Lavaball Trap deals 4 damage to each creature.
- CMC
- 8
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Zendikar
- Price
- $0.27
- EDHREC rank
- #22759
Lavaball Trap destroys two lands and deals 4 damage to each creature — a two-for-one land destruction effect stapled to a sweeper, and it costs just two mana if an opponent played two or more lands this turn. At its base cost of eight mana it's unplayable, so the trap condition isn't optional; it's the entire reason the card exists.
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 |
Lavaball Trap is a Commander card almost exclusively — the trap condition fires reliably in a four-player game where someone is nearly always ramping or playing catch-up with land drops. In Legacy and Vintage it's a non-starter: the trap condition is hard to guarantee against disciplined opponents, and eight mana is a death sentence in those formats. Modern has enough ramp decks that the condition could theoretically trigger, but dedicated land destruction strategies don't have a competitive home there either. Stick to Commander, where Lavaball Trap punishes the ramp-heavy player at the table while clearing away small utility creatures as a bonus.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.27 bulk tier
At $0.27, Lavaball Trap is deep bulk — a low-risk pickup for any red land-disruption package. Bulk trap cards rarely appreciate, so buy it to play it, not to hold it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.