Tip the Scales
Sorcery
Sacrifice a creature. When you do, all creatures get -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the sacrificed creature's toughness.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander
- Price
- $0.17
- EDHREC rank
- #8220
Tip the Scales puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control for every creature entering the battlefield this turn — in the right deck, that's a board-wide pump of four, six, or ten counters stapled to a single spell. Felothar the Steadfast turns that payoff into a repeatable engine, making this one of the cleanest includes in the format.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Felothar the Steadfast
Felothar the Steadfast triggers off every creature entering under your control, so casting Tip the Scales mid-combat or in response to a token wave translates directly into a lethal swing the same turn.
Betor, Kin to All
Betor, Kin to All cares about distributing counters across your board, and Tip the Scales does exactly that at instant speed — running it means a wide alpha strike can double as a counter-loading event.
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 where Tip the Scales actually lives — token-heavy and creature-flood strategies are endemic to the format, and the ceiling on this card scales directly with how many creatures you put onto the battlefield in a single turn. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but competes in formats that reward raw efficiency over payoff-dependent spells, so it won't see serious play there. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander 60-card-adjacent format worth mentioning: storm-style creature dumps can spike Tip the Scales into absurd territory, but the format's smaller card pool keeps it niche.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.17 bulk tier
At $0.17, Tip the Scales is deep bulk — pick up as many copies as you need without a second thought. Bulk rares with narrow homes rarely climb unless the commander driving them breaks out, so don't expect this to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.