Skull Rend
Sorcery
Skull Rend deals 2 damage to each opponent. Those players each discard two cards at random.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BR
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Return to Ravnica
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #16600
Skull Rend hits every opponent for 2 damage and strips a card from each of their hands — in a four-player pod, that's 6 damage and 3 cards off the table for five mana. The effect is real; the cost is just steep enough to keep it out of optimized lists.
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 |
Commander is where Skull Rend earns its keep: the multiplayer math turns a mediocre two-for-one into a three-for-one that also pings the table, making it a natural fit in Rakdos discard strategies or wheel-heavy builds that want to punish empty hands. Outside of Commander, the card struggles — five mana for a sorcery-speed effect that only hits one opponent is far too slow for Modern or Legacy, where the format's best discard costs one or two mana. Pauper is technically legal and probably the only non-Commander format where a grindy black-red aggro deck might consider it, though even there the tempo cost is punishing. Skull Rend is a Commander card first, a casual-format card a distant second, and a non-starter anywhere the game ends before turn five.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Skull Rend is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard and shipping, not the effect. That price is stable by default; there's no competitive demand pulling it up, so grab a copy whenever you need one without a second thought.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.