Torch the Tower
Instant
Bargain (You may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment, or token as you cast this spell.)
Torch the Tower deals 2 damage to target creature or planeswalker. If this spell was bargained, instead it deals 3 damage to that permanent and you scry 1.
If a permanent dealt damage by Torch the Tower would die this turn, exile it instead.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Wilds of Eldraine
- Price
- $2.38
- EDHREC rank
- #15711
Torch the Tower kills a creature or planeswalker for one red mana and incidentally exiles an artifact from your graveyard — clean, efficient, and flexible. It's the kind of removal spell that earns a slot on raw stats alone.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Torch the Tower competes in a crowded pool of one-mana red removal, and the exile rider on artifacts from your graveyard is mostly irrelevant — but a one-mana instant that hits planeswalkers is genuinely rare, and that alone keeps it in the conversation for aggressive or burn-adjacent builds. In Pauper it's a real player, where efficient common removal defines the format and the flexible targeting matters. Modern and Pioneer have enough cheap interaction that Torch the Tower sits at the margins unless the artifact-exile rider lines up with something specific in the meta. Legacy and Vintage have Fatal Push, Swords to Plowshares, and Pyroblast filling every slot — no room.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$2.38 cheap tier
At $2.38, Torch the Tower is in the budget tier for removal spells and isn't likely to spike without a major meta shift. You're paying a fair price for a functionally solid card.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.