Piercing Light
Instant
Piercing Light deals 2 damage to target attacking or blocking creature. Scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom.)
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Innistrad: Crimson Vow
- Price
- $0.06
- EDHREC rank
- #24399
Piercing Light is a one-mana instant that destroys a tapped creature — conditional removal at the lowest possible cost. It's efficient when it works and dead in hand when it doesn't, which makes it a fringe inclusion at best.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Piercing Light competes against unconditional removal like Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile, and the tapped-creature condition is too unreliable in a four-player game where threats rarely stay tapped on opponents' turns. Pauper is where Piercing Light has the most legitimate claim, since the removal pool is shallower and aggressive decks can manufacture tapped targets more consistently. In Modern and Legacy, it simply doesn't clear the bar — one mana for conditional removal isn't competitive when Fatal Push and Prismatic Ending exist. Pioneer sits in the same position: better options are abundant and the condition limits when you can actually use it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.06 bulk tier
At $0.06, Piercing Light is deep bulk — you'll find copies in any commons box for free before you'd ever pay for one. There's no pressure to buy in, and no reason to expect the price to move in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.