Sideswipe
Instant
You may change any targets of target Arcane spell.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Champions of Kamigawa
- Price
- $0.19
- EDHREC rank
- #30383
Sideswipe deals 2 damage to a creature and 2 to its controller — four total damage on a single card for two mana. It's a combat trick with reach, not a staple, but the split damage is genuinely useful in aggressive red builds that want to pressure life totals while clearing blockers.
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, Sideswipe is a fringe inclusion — 2 damage rarely kills a relevant threat at a table where creatures scale into the mid-to-high power range, and the player damage is incidental at 40 life. Legacy and Vintage have access to far more efficient removal, so Sideswipe sees no meaningful play there. Modern has better options at the same mana cost, making it a non-starter competitively. The card's ceiling is niche Commander shells that care about dealing damage to players specifically — aristocrats-adjacent red builds or damage-trigger commanders — where the rider on the player matters more than the damage to the creature.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.19 bulk tier
At $0.19, Sideswipe is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not the effect. That price is stable by default; bulk commons don't move unless a commander breaks them out, and nothing on the horizon suggests that's coming.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.