Swift Justice
Instant
Until end of turn, target creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike and lifelink.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Duel Decks: Speed vs. Cunning
- Price
- $0.21
- EDHREC rank
- #17457
Swift Justice gives a creature first strike, lifelink, and vigilance until end of turn for a single white mana — a lot of keywords stapled to one instant, but all of them temporary and none of them game-changing. It's a combat trick with limited ceiling, outclassed in almost every format by cards that permanently upgrade your board.
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, Swift Justice is too low-impact to justify a slot — a one-shot combat boost doesn't scale to a four-player game where you need threats and answers, not marginal pump. Pauper is the format where Swift Justice is most at home, slotting into aggressive white strategies that want cheap combat tricks to win races or push through damage profitably. In Legacy and Vintage, the card is technically legal but wholly irrelevant given the power level of available options. Modern and Pioneer offer better combat tricks at the same cost, so Swift Justice has no competitive foothold there either.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.21 bulk tier
At $0.21, Swift Justice is deep bulk — you're paying for the cardboard, not the effect. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to move meaningfully in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.