Roiling Vortex
Enchantment
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, this enchantment deals 1 damage to them.
Whenever a player casts a spell, if no mana was spent to cast that spell, this enchantment deals 5 damage to that player.
: Your opponents can't gain life this turn.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Zendikar Rising
- Price
- $2.22
- EDHREC rank
- #2448
Roiling Vortex enters and immediately taxes every free spell in the game — zero-mana plays cost players 5 life, and the vortex itself deals 1 to each opponent at the start of every upkeep. At two mana for a repeatable life-drain and a hard shutdown on free spells, Auntie Blyte, Bad Influence decks alone justify the slot, but the card earns its place in any red deck that wants to punish good-stuff piles.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Auntie Blyte, Bad Influence
Roiling Vortex feeds Auntie Blyte, Bad Influence directly — the vortex deals damage to you via its upkeep trigger and to opponents whenever they cast free spells, and every point of noncombat damage to you is a counter and a card for Blyte. It's in over 77% of her decks for good reason.
Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls
Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls wants opponents losing life outside of combat, and Roiling Vortex delivers a reliable drip of upkeep damage every single turn while punishing free spells with a 5-life tax that can snowball into Valgavoth triggers quickly.
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might
Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might replaces any red source dealing less than 4 damage with 4 — so Roiling Vortex's 1-damage upkeep ping becomes 4 to each opponent every turn, turning a trickle into a clock.
Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin
Roiling Vortex's upkeep trigger deals exactly 1 damage, the precise amount Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin needs to get a +1/+1 counter and an unblockable attack trigger — it's one of the cleanest automatic Ob Nixilis activations in the format.
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell adds 2 to every red source's damage, turning Roiling Vortex's upkeep ping into 3 per opponent per turn and the free-spell tax into 7 life — enough to deter even the most hardened Storm player.
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 |
In Commander, Roiling Vortex is a two-mana enchantment that does real work against the format's most common offenders: free spells like Force of Will, Fierce Guardianship, and Jeweled Lotus all trigger the 5-life tax, and the upkeep ping is a passive clock that compounds over a four-player game. In Modern and Legacy, it sees occasional sideboard play as a Cascade and free-spell hate piece, though its sorcery-like damage timing and slow burn make it less reliable than dedicated hosers in those faster formats. Pioneer has fewer free spells to punish, so Roiling Vortex mostly lives on the fringe there. Commander is unambiguously where it does the most work.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.22 cheap tier
At $2.22, Roiling Vortex sits comfortably in the cheap tier — well under budget for the effect it delivers. Demand from dedicated red commanders keeps a floor under the price, so it's unlikely to drop significantly.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.