Red Spellslinger Rare Soars After Week One of Spider-Man

Last updated on September 26, 2025

Electro's Bolt | Illustration by JB Casacop

Honest answers only: What was your opinion of Electro, Assaulting Battery when you first saw it? Did you brush it off as “another one of those” cards, like everyone did with Leyline Tyrant? Did you see double-red in the casting cost and dismiss it right away?

You’re not alone if you belong to any of the above categories. But you are part of a prestigious group of MTG savants if you pegged Electro as a standout card in the set (*ahem* #17 on my list of Best Spider-Man cards). Amid all the Spider-Mans and Venoms and Gwenoms of the world, turns out Electro’s one of the top players from Marvel’s Spider-Man.

Surging Prices

Source: MTGStocks

Ignoring inflated pre-sale prices, Electro, Assaulting Battery dropped into the $2-3 range last week, only to pop right back up this week as a $10 card.

Seems the card’s proven itself as a potential role-player, though it seems even more plausible that people just now caught on to the “assault and battery” pun in the card’s name and started buying out like crazy. Electro’s seen some wild swings in just a little over a week, so it’s hard to predict where it’ll land.

Dissecting Electro

This is a four-parter where the majority of text on the card actually matters. Let’s parse through it one step at a time:

• 2/3 flying for : That’s actually not great, but you’re not really playing this card for the statline anyway.
• “You don’t lose unspent mana as steps and phases end“: This text mostly appears on clunkers like Horizon Stone and Ashling, Flame Dancer. Omnath, Locus of Mana is the only other 3-mana card to feature this ability, tying Electro for the cheapest way to store up mana across phases.
• “Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, add ”: The main element working in Electro’s favor is having this ability on a legendary creature. Birgi, God of Storytelling occupies this space already, and has a less-restrictive mana-making ability.
• “When Electro leaves the battlefield, you may pay . When you do, he deals X damage to target player“: Here’s your advantage over Birgi. Electro’s an infinite mana outlet that fireballs players out of the game, or at least deals them a good blow on its way out. That’s handy in Constructed formats where you can play multiples, using the legend rule as a means to “sacrifice” one Electro and trigger its leaves-the-battlefield effect.

So Electro’s just doing a lot when you piece it all together. It’s evasive, it generates mana. Not a bad collection of abilities on a 3-drop!

Format Viability

Birgi, God of Storytelling | Illustration by Eric Deschamps

Electro’s a fine card when you spell it out on paper, but something must be driving the price back up. What exactly are its prospects across different formats?

Standard

There’s been some conversation about Electro in Standard, in particular how it’d play out in Vivi Ornitier decks. Consensus seems to be that Electro’s competing too heavily with other 3-drops there, mainly the namesake card.

Electro might be able to jump in Vivi’s grave when it most likely gets banned, though it’s significantly less potent in the mana-making department, and doesn’t combo with Agatha's Soul Cauldron.

Red aggro/burn decks might have a home for the new human wizard. These decks tend to be mono-red or close to it, so the casting cost isn’t an issue, and the direct damage effect would give those decks some useful reach in long games.

Commander

Electro has a definite home in Commander, both casual and cEDH. Casually, it’s fine in the 99 of spellslinger decks or infinite mana decks, and as with other cards of this kind, it’s a fun partner for Braid of Fire and other red ritual-like effects.

Competitively, it’s neck-and-neck with Birgi, God of Storytelling pretty hard. Electro’s major upside over Birgi is that it turns infinite mana into a wincon of sorts, though only against one player at a time.

Birgi, however, triggers off any spells being cast, so you can pull off artifact combos or combine it with Grinning Ignus for easy infinites. Harnfel, Horn of Bounty is also pretty strong at a competitive level.

Modern/Pioneer

Unlikely Electro makes any sort of mark on expanded Constructed formats, and the only way it’ll grace Eternal formats like Legacy/Vintage is if it’s involved in some convoluted combo. It’s the same problem for formats like Modern or Pioneer: Birgi exists, and interacts with more card types, so Electro’s just playing second fiddle to a card that’s been around four four years now.

Chances are it’s Commander driving the price of Electro right now. It’s new and flashy, and adds redundancy to decks featuring Birgi as a central combo piece. There’s some Standard potential, especially once Vivi retreats into the dank sewers where he belongs, but it’s overshadowed by more powerful 3-drops at the moment. At any rate, the price is up right now, though there’s no certainty it’ll stay that way for long.