Swarm Surge
Sorcery
Devoid (This card has no color.)
Creatures you control get +2/+0 until end of turn. Colorless creatures you control also gain first strike until end of turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Battle for Zendikar
- Price
- $0.04
- EDHREC rank
- #23530
Swarm Surge gives every creature you control +2/+0 and proliferates, turning a wide board into a lethal alpha strike while stacking counters on whatever permanents you care about. Five mana for a sorcery is the ceiling on this effect, and you need a populated board to justify it.
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, Swarm Surge earns its slot in token-wide or counter-based decks that can reliably present five or more creatures — the proliferate is free value on top of what is already a board-pump spell. In Pauper, it sits at common and could see fringe use in token-go-wide shells, though five mana is slow for that format's tempo. Modern and Legacy have access to faster, cheaper anthems, so Swarm Surge doesn't compete there outside of niche proliferate brews. Oathbreaker mirrors the Commander read: if your planeswalker cares about loyalty counters or +1/+1 synergies, the double function is worth the slot.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.04 bulk tier
At $0.04, Swarm Surge is deep bulk — you're picking it out of a commons box, not shopping for it. That price reflects its narrow demand, but it won't cost you anything to slot into the right deck.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.