Pulse of the Dross
Sorcery
Target player reveals three cards from their hand and you choose one of them. That player discards that card. Then if that player has more cards in hand than you, return Pulse of the Dross to its owner's hand.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Darksteel
- Price
- $0.32
- EDHREC rank
- #25839
Pulse of the Dross makes an opponent discard three cards — one of the most punishing single-target discard effects available at three mana — but only when that opponent has more cards in hand than you do. That condition is often a dealbreaker in Commander, where your hand size fluctuates and you rarely control the board state enough to guarantee the trigger.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Pulse of the Dross is a fringe inclusion at best — the "opponent has more cards" clause is genuinely hard to satisfy at a four-player table where everyone draws and wheels freely, and three mana for a conditional discard three is too inconsistent to build around. In Legacy and Vintage, it sees no meaningful play; Hymn to Tourach and Force of Will occupy the discard and disruption slots that actually matter in those formats, and the Pulse's bounce-back clause (returning to hand when the condition isn't met) just means you wasted your turn. Oathbreaker is the one format where it becomes slightly more interesting, since the compressed two-player dynamic makes the hand-size condition easier to engineer.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.32 bulk tier
At $0.32, Pulse of the Dross sits firmly in bulk territory, and that price reflects its play rate accurately. Don't expect it to climb — narrow conditional discard doesn't gain demand.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.