Chain Lightning card art

Chain Lightning

Sorcery MV 1

Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.

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What it doesCombosRulingsIn the 99Every version

What it does

Chain Lightning deals 3 damage to any target. Then that player or that permanent's controller may pay . If the player does, they may copy this spell and may choose a new target for that copy.

Combos with Chain Lightning

The lines this card is part of, what it needs alongside it, and what the cards do together. An infinite result is the one that moves a deck's bracket.

Combo data from Commander Spellbook, the community-maintained database of Magic combos. Mirrored nightly.

Rulings

4 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.

  • 2022-12-08

    The copy of Chain Lightning is created on the stack, so it's not cast. Abilities that trigger when a player casts a spell won't trigger. Players may respond to that spell before it resolves.

  • 2022-12-08

    The player putting the copy of the spell on the stack controls that copy.

  • 2022-12-08

    As Chain Lightning resolves, either the original or one of the copies, the targeted player or the controller of the targeted permanent may copy it. The copy has the same text, target, and color as the resolving spell, though the player creating the copy may choose a new target for it. Once that copy is created (or not), the Chain Lightning finishes resolving and leaves the stack.

  • 2022-12-08

    If the targeted player or permanent is an illegal target as Chain Lightning tries to resolve, the spell doesn't resolve and none of its effects happen. It can't be copied.

Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.

In the 99

Every deck whose current list includes Chain Lightning, whatever its commander.

Decks running it 1
Games played 0
Win rate — Fewer than 5 completed games, which is not enough to publish a rate yet.
Confirmed on board 0 Games where a board photo caught it actually in play.

Every version of Chain Lightning

12 printings, newest first. Prices are the market figures Scryfall publishes, refreshed nightly. A printing with no figure shows a dash rather than a zero, because Scryfall publishes none for some of them.

Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Chain Lightning. It runs a name search across every version, which covers the printings TCGplayer publishes no direct link to.

Aggregated from Commander games tracked in TurnZero HQ. Every figure counts decks and games only. No individual deck list, player or playgroup is identified. Win rates are withheld below 5 completed games, where the sample is too small to mean anything.