Orcish Cannonade
Instant
Orcish Cannonade deals 2 damage to any target and 3 damage to you.
Draw a card.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $0.14
- EDHREC rank
- #22326
Orcish Cannonade deals 2 damage to any target and draws a card, all for three mana — the catch is the 3 life you pay, which is a feature, not a bug, in the right shell. Outside of Auntie Blyte, Bad Influence and similar self-damage commanders, it's a below-rate cantrip that competitive formats ignore entirely.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Auntie Blyte, Bad Influence
Auntie Blyte, Bad Influence turns every point of that 3-life payment into a +1/+1 counter and a damage trigger, so Orcish Cannonade functions as a removal spell, a card draw engine, and a commander buff all in one three-mana package.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Orcish Cannonade is a niche role-player — it belongs in Auntie Blyte, Bad Influence decks and almost nowhere else, since paying 3 life to deal 2 damage is a losing trade without a payoff for that life loss. In Pauper, the format where it sees the most non-Commander attention, it's occasionally spotted in Izzet cantrip shells that care about spell quantity, though better draw-and-deal options usually edge it out. Legacy and Vintage are both technically legal but would never touch it. The card's home is firmly in self-damage Commander builds, and it should only leave that shelf for those decks.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.14 bulk tier
At $0.14, Orcish Cannonade is deep bulk — buy a playset without thinking about it. Bulk commons with narrow applications don't appreciate, so treat this as a pure utility pickup and nothing more.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.