Tail Slash
Instant
Target creature you control deals damage equal to its power to target creature you don't control.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Dragons of Tarkir
- Price
- $0.12
- EDHREC rank
- #21648
Tail Slash is a fight spell that lets your biggest creature do the attacking while staying tapped — four mana at instant speed for a clean board answer tied to board state. It's a role-player, not a staple: run it when your commander is large and you need cheap interaction, cut it when you have access to unconditional removal.
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, Tail Slash earns its slot only in creature-heavy decks where the controller reliably has a large power creature in play — think Timmy builds around Ghalta, Primal Hunger or similar stompy commanders where four mana is a fair trade for removing a blocker or threat at instant speed. In Pauper, the format's tight removal suite makes fight spells more viable, but Tail Slash competes with cheaper and more consistent options, so it rarely makes the cut. Across Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer, the card is legal but entirely outclassed — those formats demand tempo efficiency that four mana at sorcery-adjacent value cannot provide. Tail Slash is a Commander-or-Pauper-budget card, and even there it sits near the bottom of the removal pecking order.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.12 bulk tier
At $0.12, Tail Slash is pure bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not scarcity. It won't hold or gain value, but if the effect fits your deck, the price is never the obstacle.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.