Self-Destruct
Instant
Target creature you control deals X damage to any other target and X damage to itself, where X is its power.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Final Fantasy
- Price
- $0.23
- EDHREC rank
- #8919
Self-Destruct puts a poison counter on its controller and deals that player 10 damage — a significant life investment that kills you outright if you're not prepared for it. In Jared Carthalion, True Heir decks, that cost is the point: loading up on monarch triggers and life-gain effects turns a suicidal downside into a deliberate resource.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Jared Carthalion, True Heir
Jared Carthalion, True Heir wants to take damage to place +1/+1 counters on himself, and Self-Destruct delivers 10 damage on demand — fueling a massive stat boost while the life loss gets offset by monarch-based life gain and political damage redirection.
Zidane, Tantalus Thief
Zidane, Tantalus Thief cares about stealing and sacrificing permanents, and Self-Destruct offers a cheap way to manufacture a dramatic board state reset; the life-payment slots into strategies already running aggressive self-damage math.
Thromok the Insatiable
Thromok the Insatiable feasts on tokens, and Self-Destruct appears here as a finisher accelerant — clearing the board of your own creatures to pump Thromok to lethal size in one go.
Juri, Master of the Revue
Juri, Master of the Revue triggers off any permanent you sacrifice and scales with counters, so Self-Destruct's poison counter doubles as a Juri growth event while the life-loss pressure gets recouped through sacrifice payoffs elsewhere in the 99.
Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder
Mr. Orfeo, the Boulder runs in fight-heavy shells that want creatures at maximum size as fast as possible, and Self-Destruct's damage-to-self clause can push a creature's counter-load high enough to end a game in a single combat step.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Self-Destruct is legal across every major constructed format — Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, and Commander — but competitive constructed has almost no use for a card that asks you to spend two mana to take 10 damage and a poison counter. Commander is where it actually lives: the slower pace, the life-total cushion of 40, and the prevalence of commanders that reward taking damage or poison counters give Self-Destruct a real context. In Oathbreaker, the same self-damage commanders apply but the 20-life starting total shrinks the margin for error considerably.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.23 bulk tier
At $0.23, Self-Destruct is deep bulk — pick it up from any commons box or throw it in a order as an afterthought. Bulk rares with narrow commander applications rarely climb, so don't expect the price to move unless a new commander pushes the self-damage archetype into the spotlight.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.