Sonic Assault
Instant
Tap target creature. Sonic Assault deals 2 damage to that creature's controller.
Jump-start (You may cast this card from your graveyard by discarding a card in addition to paying its other costs. Then exile this card.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- RU
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Guilds of Ravnica
- Price
- $0.04
- EDHREC rank
- #22199
Sonic Assault taps a creature and deals 1 damage to its controller — useful disruption stapled to a cantrip, which makes it slot-efficient. Two mana for that effect is borderline, but the card draw keeps it from being a pure tempo loss.
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 |
In Commander, Sonic Assault is fringe-playable in Izzet ping decks that reward each draw spell — specifically Niv-Mizzet shells where the cantrip doubles as a free damage trigger. Outside that niche, two mana to tap one creature and deal 1 damage is too low-impact to compete for a slot in a 99-card deck. In Pauper, where common-only card pools make cantripping instants genuinely competitive, Sonic Assault is still outclassed by Izzet Charm and Thought Scour for the same slot. Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer have no realistic home for it — the effect doesn't scale to those formats' threat density.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.04 bulk tier
Sonic Assault sits at $0.04, firmly bulk, and will stay there — the card sees no competitive play and is widely available from draft chaff. Pick it up as a throw-in if you need it; there is no meaningful price floor to worry about.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.