Scalding Tarn
Land
, Pay 1 life, Sacrifice this land: Search your library for an Island or Mountain card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
- CMC
- 0
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- C
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Magic Online Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #49
Scalding Tarn is an unconditional blue-or-red land that turns any fetch into a shuffle effect, a graveyard seed, or a precision mana fix — it earns its slot in virtually every deck touching its colors, from cEDH staples like Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful to casual good-stuff piles. The one real trade-off is the one life lost per activation, which matters exactly once: in race-to-zero life scenarios at high-powered tables.
Where It Shines
Where the extra mana on turn one matters most
Big-mana shells like Vivi Ornitier
Vivi Ornitier decks lean hard on hitting specific colors on curve, and Scalding Tarn guarantees the blue or red source you need without entering tapped — when your turn-one play is a free rock or a zero-cost spell, an untapped land that can find either color is non-negotiable.
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 |
In Commander, Scalding Tarn is a straightforward inclusion in any blue-red or three-plus-color deck — the consistency it provides at the cost of one life is one of the best trades in the format. In Legacy and Vintage, it anchors the mana bases of tempo and control shells where color precision and shuffle effects for Brainstorm are both premium commodities. Modern treats it similarly, as a foundational piece in any Izzet or Grixis strategy that needs to hit blue and red reliably while keeping the land count lean. Scalding Tarn is not legal in Pioneer, Standard, or Pauper, so those conversations end there.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Scalding Tarn has historically sat at a premium — multiple printings have brought the price down from its peak, but it remains one of the more expensive fetch lands due to demand across Commander, Modern, and Legacy simultaneously. Prices shift with each reprint announcement, so check current market listings before buying; the fetch-land reprint cycle means patience occasionally rewards.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Thrasios, Triton Hero // Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
- Vivi Ornitier
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.