Overwhelming Surge
Instant
Choose one or both —
• Overwhelming Surge deals 3 damage to target creature.
• Destroy target noncreature artifact.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Tarkir: Dragonstorm
- Price
- $0.23
- EDHREC rank
- #13798
Overwhelming Surge puts +2/+2 and trample on every creature you control — at instant speed — for three mana, and if a creature died this turn, it only costs one. In Cormela, Glamour Thief shells that routinely sacrifice creatures for value, that discount is almost always online, making this one of the most efficient pump spells in the format.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Cormela, Glamour Thief
Cormela, Glamour Thief generates mana by dying, which means the sacrifice trigger that reduces Overwhelming Surge to a single blue or black mana is baked directly into the commander herself — cast Surge for one, swing with a buffed board, and Cormela's death refunds the mana you spent getting there.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Overwhelming Surge is a Commander card — the discount condition is trivially met in a format full of sacrifice outlets, combat tricks, and creatures dying every turn. In 1v1 formats like Legacy, Modern, or Pioneer, paying three mana for a pump spell that doesn't guarantee the discount is simply too slow, and the effect rarely closes a game the way a targeted spell or a threat would. Standard could theoretically support it in a sacrifice shell, but the competition from pushed aggro and midrange payoffs is steep. Commander is where the math works: cheap when you need it, wide enough to close games from nowhere.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.23 bulk tier
At $0.23, Overwhelming Surge is firmly bulk — pick it up in any common/uncommon lot or grab a copy for pocket change at your local game store. Bulk instants with narrow homes don't tend to spike, so don't expect the price to move unless a high-profile deck puts the sacrifice-matters synergy on the map.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.