Molten Influence
Instant
Counter target instant or sorcery spell unless its controller has Molten Influence deal 4 damage to them.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Odyssey
- Price
- $6.21
- EDHREC rank
- #17387
Molten Influence counters any instant or sorcery — or deals 4 damage to the player who cast it if they refuse. Two mana for that choice is efficient enough that the opponent rarely comes out ahead.
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 |
In Commander, Molten Influence earns a slot in any red deck that wants countermagic — it punishes the opponent who insists on resolving a game-winning spell and taxes everyone else at the table. Legacy and Vintage both have access to it, but those formats run hard counters that don't offer the caster a way out, so Molten Influence rarely competes there. It's illegal in Modern, Pioneer, Pauper, and Standard, so Commander and Oathbreaker are the practical homes.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Molten Influence is already budget, but if you need to go cheaper, Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast do the same job for a fraction of the cost — they're just limited to blue spells. Tibalt's Trickery is the other red pseudo-counterspell worth mentioning, though it replaces the spell rather than countering it outright, which introduces meaningful variance.
Price Context
Current price
$6.21 mid tier
At $6.21, Molten Influence sits in the mid tier — notable for a card this narrow, but it's a unique effect in a color that rarely gets clean countermagic. Demand is niche enough that the price is stable rather than climbing.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.