Smokebraider
Creature — Elemental Shaman
: Add two mana in any combination of colors. Spend this mana only to cast Elemental spells or activate abilities of Elementals.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Modern Masters 2015
- Price
- $0.20
- EDHREC rank
- #5264
Smokebraider is a two-mana mana-dork that taps for two — but only toward Elementals, which makes it either irrelevant or backbreaking depending on your deck. In Elemental-dense builds like Ashling, the Limitless, it effectively doubles your mana output on turn two; the ceiling gets absurd once Quicksilver Elemental enters the picture and can copy activated abilities for free.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Ashling, the Limitless
Ashling, the Limitless runs Smokebraider in over 80% of decks because Ashling's activated ability is the engine — Smokebraider turns a four-mana activation into a two-mana one, letting you double, triple, or otherwise stack counters at a pace that closes games several turns earlier.
Ashling the Pilgrim
Ashling the Pilgrim needs to dump mana into its own activated ability repeatedly, and Smokebraider makes each of those investments cheaper — pumping Ashling to lethal range on curve becomes trivially easy with even one Smokebraider in play.
Omnath, Locus of the Roil
Omnath, Locus of the Roil commands an Elemental tribal shell dense enough that Smokebraider functions as pure acceleration — every large Elemental you cast ahead of schedule translates directly into Omnath triggers and board advantage.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Smokebraider earns its keep — Elemental tribal is a real and popular archetype, and a two-mana creature that taps for two colored mana in the right shell is simply good. In Pauper, it sees play for the same reason: common-legal Elemental synergies exist and the mana efficiency is undeniable at that power level. Legacy and Vintage have access to it but have zero incentive to run it — faster mana and more consistent engines crowd it out entirely. Modern has the card pool to use it, but Elemental tribal there leans on cheaper, more resilient pieces and rarely needs a fragile 1/1 dork.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Quicksilver ElementalSmokebraiderKnacksaw Clique
Exile each opponent's library
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.20 bulk tier
At $0.20, Smokebraider is deep bulk — pick it up without a second thought if you're building Elemental tribal. It's been printed enough times that the price is unlikely to move meaningfully in either direction, so there's no timing consideration: just buy it.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.