Pyroclastic Elemental
Creature — Elemental
: This creature deals 1 damage to target player.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Jumpstart
- Price
- $0.09
- EDHREC rank
- #28931
Pyroclastic Elemental enters the battlefield and immediately deals 1 damage to each other creature — a built-in board sweep stapled to a 5/4 body for six mana. The rate is fair enough that you're not paying a premium for the effect, but the 1-damage threshold means it cleans up tokens and X/1s rather than real threats.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Pyroclastic Elemental earns its slot, specifically in red decks that go wide with their own small creatures and want entry triggers to matter — Elemental tribal and Jund token-swarm builds both use the ping to clear the path before combat. Outside Commander, the card is legal in Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, and Vintage, but none of those formats have room for a six-mana 5/4 whose ETB only kills 1-toughness creatures; the effect doesn't scale to the speed or the threat density of those environments. Pyroclastic Elemental is a Commander card that happens to be legal elsewhere.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.09 bulk tier
At $0.09, Pyroclastic Elemental is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not the effect. Bulk mythics and rares with narrow applications tend to sit at this floor indefinitely, so don't expect movement unless an Elemental-tribal commander pushes demand.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.