Swell of Courage
Instant
Creatures you control get +2/+2 until end of turn.
Reinforce X—
(, Discard this card: Put X +1/+1 counters on target creature.)
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret
- Price
- $0.40
- EDHREC rank
- #28190
Swell of Courage gives every creature you control +2/+2 and vigilance until end of turn — at instant speed, for five mana. That's a fine alpha-strike enabler in go-wide token builds, but five mana at sorcery-equivalent windows is too slow for competitive play and too fragile against a single removal spell.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Swell of Courage is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but it only has a real home in Commander. In Legacy and Vintage, five mana for a pump spell is unplayable on rate — those formats end before this resolves meaningfully. Modern has cheaper, more resilient finishers that don't require a full board to pay off. In Commander, Swell of Courage fits narrow go-wide token strategies that can flood the board by turn five and need a surprise combat swing to close out a table — vigilance across all attackers is the genuine upside that separates it from simpler pump spells.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.40 bulk tier
At $0.40, Swell of Courage sits firmly in bulk territory. It's unlikely to appreciate unless a breakout Commander build pushes token-wide pump spells into demand, so there's no reason to acquire multiples speculatively — just pick one up when you need it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.