Smoldering Marsh
Land — Swamp Mountain
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This land enters tapped unless you control two or more basic lands.
- CMC
- 0
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BR
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Battle for Zendikar Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #94
Smoldering Marsh enters untapped as long as you control a Swamp or Mountain, which means it functions as a dual land in any black-red shell without a tempo penalty past the early turns. The catch is that it's a basic land type dual in name only — no basic supertype — so it doesn't fetch off Farseek or similar, a real limitation that Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart players in particular need to account for when building their mana base.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart
Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart demands clean Rakdos mana across both halves of the card, and Smoldering Marsh delivers both black and red without entering tapped in the mid-game when it matters most.
Sauron, Lord of the Rings
Sauron, Lord of the Rings needs consistent access to black mana for its heavy spell suite and Smoldering Marsh slots cleanly into the Rakdos base, showing up untapped more often than not by the time the deck is executing.
Admiral Brass, Unsinkable
Admiral Brass, Unsinkable runs a Grixis mana base that still leans heavily on black and red, and Smoldering Marsh fills the Rakdos pip requirement without the drawback of an always-tapped dual.
Auntie Ool, Cursewretch
Auntie Ool, Cursewretch operates in Rakdos and wants its mana base to keep pace with aggressive play patterns — Smoldering Marsh satisfies both color requirements and enters untapped reliably once a single Swamp or Mountain is on the battlefield.
Olivia, Opulent Outlaw
Olivia, Opulent Outlaw pushes a Vampire tribal strategy in Rakdos that can punish slow mana, and Smoldering Marsh pulls its weight by providing both colors without costing a full turn after the first couple of lands are laid.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Smoldering Marsh is a straightforward role-player: any Rakdos, Mardu, Grixis, or four- and five-color deck that can reliably have a Swamp or Mountain in play by turn two or three gets an untapped dual that costs almost nothing in deck slots or budget. In Modern and Pioneer, it competes against fetchable duals and shock lands, which limits its appeal to budget builds or decks that actively want land-type redundancy without the life loss of a shock. Legacy and Vintage have access to far stronger dual options, so Smoldering Marsh rarely makes the cut there outside of extreme budget constraints. It's not legal in Standard or Pauper, but that loss is negligible — the card was designed for a slower, more land-dense format like Commander anyway.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't currently available for Smoldering Marsh, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for a live number before buying. Historically, cycle duals like this sit in the $1–4 range depending on demand, making them easy pickups when building a Rakdos mana base on a budget.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart
- Sauron, Lord of the Rings
- Admiral Brass, Unsinkable
- Auntie Ool, Cursewretch
- Olivia, Opulent Outlaw
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.