Steam Catapult
Creature — Human Soldier
: Destroy target tapped creature. Activate only during your turn, before attackers are declared.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Portal Second Age
- Price
- $6.37
- EDHREC rank
- #28786
Steam Catapult taps to return any target creature to its owner's hand — repeatable, instant-speed bounce stapled to a permanent, at the cost of four mana to cast and a tap each use. It's a role-player in blink and tap-synergy shells, not a staple, but it does real work when your deck rewards repeatedly using activated abilities.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is the only format where Steam Catapult sees meaningful play, and even there it needs a supporting cast to justify the slot. The tap cost is trivial when you're already untapping it with Seedborn Muse or Dramatic Reversal effects, and returning commanders to hands is a relevant political and disruptive tool in a multiplayer game. Legacy and Vintage allow it but have no interest — cheaper, unconditional bounce spells dominate those formats. Oathbreaker is legal but too fast for a four-mana setup piece.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Aether Adept and Man-o'-War do the same bounce job for three mana as enters-the-battlefield effects — no tap required, though they're one-shot rather than repeatable. Steam Catapult's edge is the repeatability; if you're not exploiting that with untap effects, either creature outperforms it at a fraction of the price.
Price Context
Current price
$6.37 mid tier
At $6.37, Steam Catapult sits in mid-tier pricing for a card with narrow application — you're paying a modest premium for a Reserved List reprint-proof piece rather than raw power. It holds its price more by scarcity than demand, so don't expect it to climb, but it won't crater either.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.