Rootwalla
Creature — Lizard
: This creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Activate only once each turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- G
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Ninth Edition
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #29309
Rootwalla is a one-mana 1/1 that pumps itself to a 3/3 for two mana — the ceiling is fine, but the floor is a 1/1 with no immediate board impact, and that's a real cost in competitive Commander. The free madness cast is the only reason to run it, and if your deck isn't built around discard, Rootwalla has no business being in the 99.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Rootwalla's natural home is any format that rewards madness or discard synergies, and Commander is the hardest sell of the bunch — a 1/1 body doesn't threaten anything at a four-player table, and the pump is a mana sink you'd rather spend elsewhere. In Legacy and Vintage, it historically paired with Careful Study and Aquamoeba in threshold-based aggressive shells, where the free madness cast did genuine work. Pauper is the sweet spot today: discard-matters and threshold strategies are real archetypes at common, and Rootwalla's zero-mana madness cost is a legitimate tempo play. Pioneer and Modern have largely passed it by — the card pool offers better payoffs for discard investment at every point on the curve.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't available for Rootwalla at the moment, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for a current number. Given its narrow application and common-rarity print history, it typically sits well under a dollar — pick it up if you're building a Pauper madness deck, otherwise don't bother.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.