Rivals' Duel
Sorcery
Choose two target creatures that share no creature types. Those creatures fight each other. (Each deals damage equal to its power to the other.)
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Planechase Anthology
- Price
- $0.20
- EDHREC rank
- #26160
Rivals' Duel makes two creatures fight, destroying the loser outright — and at three mana at instant speed, that's a clean rate for Commander. It's not premium removal, but it trades a mana discount for the caveat that your target needs to win the fight, so point it at something smaller than what it's fighting.
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 |
Rivals' Duel sees essentially zero play in Legacy, Modern, or Vintage — those formats move too fast and run too many indestructible or low-toughness threats for a fight spell to pull weight. Commander is the natural home: instant-speed interaction at three mana is serviceable, creature counts are high enough that a valid target is almost always available, and the political angle of forcing two opponents' creatures to fight each other adds a dimension other removal can't offer. In Oathbreaker the two-player dynamic tightens the ceiling, since you can't engineer a three-way fight, but the card remains legal and functional there.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.20 bulk tier
At $0.20, Rivals' Duel sits firmly in bulk territory — the kind of card you pull from a box rather than order. Bulk fight spells rarely spike unless a Commander precon adopts them as a theme, so don't expect this to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.