Turn the Tables
Instant
All combat damage that would be dealt to you this turn is dealt to target attacking creature instead.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Darksteel
- Price
- $0.47
- EDHREC rank
- #24172
Turn the Tables redirects all combat damage dealt to you this turn back at each attacking creature's controller — a blowout that can kill multiple opponents at once if they overcommit. At three mana at instant speed, the cost is low enough that the threat of it changes how combat works even when it sits in your hand.
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 |
Commander is where Turn the Tables does its best work: multiplayer tables mean multiple opponents can be punished in a single combat step, and the political visibility of holding up three mana discourages attacks in the first place. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but irrelevant — combat-based aggro isn't a threat those formats care about, and there's no shell looking for this effect. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander at a smaller table, where it's a reasonable budget deterrent in life-total-sensitive builds.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.47 bulk tier
At $0.47, Turn the Tables sits firmly in bulk territory — cheap enough to throw into any Commander deck that wants a combat deterrent without a second thought. Bulk rares at this price rarely spike unless a new commander pushes the effect into competitive demand, and nothing on the horizon suggests that's coming.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.