Melee
Instant
Cast this spell only during combat on your turn before blockers are declared.
You choose which creatures block this combat and how those creatures block.
Whenever a creature attacks and isn't blocked this combat, untap it and remove it from combat.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Ice Age
- Price
- $0.30
- EDHREC rank
- #28394
Melee pumps each attacking creature by +1/+1 for each opponent you attacked this turn — in a four-player Commander pod where you swing at three players, that's a free +3/+3 across your whole board for one red mana at instant speed. It's a combat trick that scales with multiplayer and costs almost nothing to include.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Melee is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it only pulls real weight in Commander. The card's pump scales with the number of opponents attacked, so a two-player Legacy game caps it at +1/+1 — worse than most combat tricks at that cost. In Commander's four-player default, attacking three opponents turns Melee into a +3/+1 pump at instant speed for one mana, which is genuinely strong in aggressive red strategies. Oathbreaker runs smaller pods, so the ceiling drops, but it's still playable in go-wide builds. Outside of multiplayer contexts, leave it on the shelf.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.30 bulk tier
At $0.30, Melee is deep bulk — easy to pick up in any common box or as a throw-in. The price reflects its narrow format relevance, not its actual in-game impact in Commander, so there's no hesitation at that rate for red aggro builds.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.