Reverse Damage
Instant
The next time a source of your choice would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage. You gain life equal to the damage prevented this way.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Fourth Edition
- Price
- $0.56
- EDHREC rank
- #18406
Reverse Damage turns a single source's damage into life gain — every point that would hit you instead pads your total — but it costs three mana for one-shot protection that does nothing on board. The best case is pairing it with something like Wheel of Misfortune, where you bid high, let the damage resolve into a life swing, and come out far ahead; the worst case is a dead card in hand when the threat you needed to answer just doesn't show up.
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 |
Reverse Damage is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but seeing competitive play in exactly none of them. In Commander it occupies a narrow lifegain-combo niche — the card is most coherent when a repeatable damage source is already in the deck, otherwise it's a one-time fog variant that doesn't advance your board. Legacy and Modern have access to faster, more flexible protection spells, so Reverse Damage never makes the cut in those formats. It's a card that exists for Commander and essentially Commander alone, and even there it earns its slot only in specific builds.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.56 bulk tier
At $0.56, Reverse Damage is firmly bulk — you're not paying a premium to run it. Demand is narrow enough that this price is a ceiling as much as a floor; it's unlikely to climb without a high-profile Commander printing or a sudden surge in Wheel of Misfortune strategies.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.