Vial Smasher the Fierce
Tracked across real Commander games played through TurnZero HQ.
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What it does
Whenever you cast your first spell each turn, choose an opponent at random. Vial Smasher deals damage equal to that spell's mana value to that player or a planeswalker that player controls.
Partner (You can have two commanders if both have partner.)
Combos with Vial Smasher the Fierce
Lines this card is part of — what it needs alongside it, and what the two of them do. An infinite result is the one that moves a deck's bracket.
- Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator Ashnod the Uncaring Street Urchin Infinite
- Infinite damage
Combo data from Commander Spellbook, the community-maintained database of Magic combos. Mirrored nightly.
Rulings
13 official rulings, in the order Wizards published them.
- 2017-04-17
Vial Smasher the Fierce is banned as a commander in Duel Commander format, but it may be part of your deck.
- 2020-11-10
Once the game begins, your two commanders are tracked separately. If you cast one, you won't have to pay an additional 2 the first time you cast the other. A player loses the game after having been dealt 21 damage from any one of them, not from both of them combined.
- 2020-11-10
If your Commander deck has two commanders, you can only include cards whose own color identities are also found in your commanders' combined color identities. If Falthis and Kediss are your commanders, your deck may contain cards with black and/or red in their color identity, but not cards with green, white, or blue.
- 2020-11-10
Vial Smasher's triggered ability triggers when you cast your first spell each turn, regardless of whose turn it is.
- 2020-11-10
You can choose two commanders with partner that are the same color or colors. In Commander Draft, you can even choose two of the same commander with partner if you drafted them. If you do this, make sure you keep the number of times you've cast each from the command zone clear for "commander tax" purposes.
- 2020-11-10
Vial Smasher has to be on the battlefield at the moment you cast your first spell. If that spell causes Vial Smasher to leave the battlefield as an additional cost to cast it, Vial Smasher's ability can't trigger. If that spell is Vial Smasher itself, Vial Smasher's ability can't trigger.
- 2020-11-10
An effect that checks whether you control your commander is satisfied if you control one or both of your two commanders.
- 2020-11-10
To have two commanders, both must have the partner ability as the game begins. Losing the ability during the game doesn't cause either to cease to be your commander.
- 2020-11-10
The opponent to be dealt damage is chosen at random while the triggered ability is resolving. After that opponent is chosen, you choose whether damage will be dealt to that player or to a planeswalker they control, and if so, which planeswalker. No player may take any actions between the damage recipient being chosen and the damage being dealt.
- 2020-11-10
For spells with X in their mana costs, use the value chosen for X to determine the spell's mana value.
- 2020-11-10
Vial Smasher's triggered ability resolves before the spell that caused it to trigger. If Vial Smasher's ability resolves and the spell that caused it to trigger has been countered, use that spell's mana value as it last existed on the stack to determine how much damage is dealt.
- 2020-11-10
If something refers to your commander while you have two commanders, it refers to one of them of your choice. If you are instructed to perform an action on your commander (e.g. put it from the command zone into your hand due to Command Beacon), you choose one of your commanders at the time the effect happens.
- 2020-11-10
Both commanders start in the command zone, and the remaining 98 cards (or 58 cards in a Commander Draft game) of your deck are shuffled to become your library.
Rulings are Wizards of the Coast's own, mirrored from Scryfall and refreshed nightly.
In the 99
Every deck whose current list includes Vial Smasher the Fierce, whatever its commander.
Most played under
| Commander | Decks | Games | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord of Pain | 1 | 0 | — |
Colors it shows up in
- Rakdos 1 deck
Every version of Vial Smasher the Fierce
5 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 genuinely publishes none for some of them.

Inverted
Final Fantasy: Through the Ages
- Normal
- $11.47
- Foil
- $75.75

Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander
- Normal
- $3.18

Borderless
Secret Lair Drop
- Normal
- $14.52
- Foil
- $16.26

Etched
- Etched
- $4.09

Commander 2016
- Foil
- $6.26
Prices from Scryfall, which tracks the TCGplayer and Cardmarket markets. They move daily and are a guide rather than a quote. Search TCGplayer for Vial Smasher the Fierce — a name search across every version, for 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.