Seismic Assault is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Discard a land card: This enchantment deals 2 damage to any target.
Complete guide
Seismic Assault is a classic red enchantment that transforms every land card in your hand into a lethal projectile. By providing a repeatable way to turn excess resources into direct damage, it serves as a powerful finisher for decks that can keep their hands full of land.
What It Does
Seismic Assault provides a zero-cost activated ability that you can use as many times as you have land cards to discard. For the cost of discarding a single land card, the enchantment deals 2 damage to any target, including players, planeswalkers, or creatures.
How It Resolves
First, you activate the ability by announcing it and choosing a target. Next, you pay the cost by discarding a land card from your hand; this happens immediately and cannot be countered. The ability then goes on the stack, and if it resolves, the enchantment deals 2 damage to the chosen target.
Common Mistakes
A frequent error involves trying to activate the ability while another spell or ability is still resolving. As noted in the official rulings, if a spell like Faithless Looting is resolving, you cannot pause the process to discard a land to Seismic Assault before completing the spell's instructions. You must wait until the current spell has finished its full resolution before you can activate the ability again.
When to Play It
This card is most effective in the mid-to-late game when you have accumulated extra lands that are no longer needed for mana. It is also excellent in combination with effects that return lands from the graveyard to your hand, allowing for a continuous stream of damage that can bypass most traditional defenses.
Interaction examples
If you have four Mountain cards in your hand, you can activate Seismic Assault four times in succession. Each activation deals 2 damage, allowing you to deal a total of 8 damage to your opponent's life total without spending any additional mana.
Impact TremorsWhile Impact Tremors deals damage when creatures enter the battlefield, Seismic Assault provides a separate avenue for damage. You can use your lands to pick off small creatures your opponent controls using Seismic Assault, clearing the way for your own creatures to trigger Impact Tremors safely.
Underworld BreachWith Underworld Breach on the battlefield, your nonland cards in the graveyard gain escape. While you cannot escape land cards to use with Seismic Assault, you can use Seismic Assault to discard lands to the graveyard, which then serve as the 'exile three other cards' fuel required to cast other spells via Underworld Breach's escape ability.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Seismic Assault
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If an effect instructs you to draw cards and then discard cards, you can't take actions in between. For example, if you have no cards in hand and cast Faithless Looting, you can't activate Seismic Assault's ability between the time you draw two cards and discard those two cards.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
The Gitrog Monster + Dakmor Salvage + Seismic Assault
- 1Activate Seismic Assault by discarding Dakmor Salvage.
- 2The Gitrog Monster's third ability triggers, causing you to mill two cards and return Dakmor Salvage from your graveyard to your hand.
- 3Resolve the Seismic Assault ability, dealing 2 damage to any target.
- 4Repeat.
Slogurk, the Overslime + Surly Badgersaur + Seismic Assault
- 1Activate Seismic Assault by discarding a land card.
- 2Slogurk and Surly Badgersaur trigger, putting a +1/+1 counter on Slogurk and creating a Treasure token.
- 3Resolve the Seismic Assault ability, dealing 2 damage to any target.
- 4Repeat from step 1 two additional times.
- 5Activate three Treasures by tapping and sacrificing them, adding
. - 6Activate Slogurk by removing three +1/+1 counters from it, returning it from the battlefield to your hand.
- 7When Slogurk leaves the battlefield, it triggers, returning three land cards from your graveyard to your hand.
- 8Cast Slogurk by paying .
Life from the Loam + Surly Badgersaur + Seismic Assault + Tranquil Thicket
- 1Activate Tranquil Thicket's cycling ability by paying and discarding it.
- 2Surly Badgersaur's second ability triggers, creating a Treasure artifact token.
- 3Resolve the Tranquil Thicket ability, causing you to mill three cards and return Life from the Loam from your graveyard to your hand.
- 4Activate Seismic Assault by discarding a land card.
- 5Surly Badgersaur's second ability triggers, creating a Treasure artifact token.
- 6Resolve the Seismic Assault ability, dealing 2 damage to any target.
- 7Repeat from step 4 one additional time.
- 8Activate the three Treasure tokens by tapping and sacrificing them, adding .
Life from the Loam + Surly Badgersaur + Seismic Assault + Forgotten Cave
- 1Activate Forgotten Cave's cycling ability by paying
and discarding it. - 2Surly Badgersaur's second ability triggers, creating a Treasure artifact token.
- 3Resolve the Forgotten Cave ability, causing you to mill three cards and return Life from the Loam from your graveyard to your hand.
- 4Activate Seismic Assault by discarding a land card.
- 5Surly Badgersaur's second ability triggers, creating a Treasure artifact token.
- 6Resolve the Seismic Assault ability, dealing 2 damage to any target.
- 7Repeat from step 4 one additional time.
- 8Activate the three Treasure tokens by tapping and sacrificing them, adding .
Life from the Loam + Surly Badgersaur + Seismic Assault + Lonely Sandbar
- 1Activate Lonely Sandbar's cycling ability by paying and discarding it.
- 2Surly Badgersaur's second ability triggers, creating a Treasure artifact token.
- 3Resolve the Lonely Sandbar ability, causing you to mill three cards and return Life from the Loam from your graveyard to your hand.
- 4Activate Seismic Assault by discarding a land card.
- 5Surly Badgersaur's second ability triggers, creating a Treasure artifact token.
- 6Resolve the Seismic Assault ability, dealing 2 damage to any target.
- 7Repeat from step 4 one additional time.
- 8Activate the three Treasure tokens by tapping and sacrificing them, adding .
Life from the Loam + Surly Badgersaur + Seismic Assault + Barren Moor
- 1Activate Barren Moor's cycling ability by paying
and discarding it. - 2Surly Badgersaur's second ability triggers, creating a Treasure artifact token.
- 3Resolve the Barren Moor ability, causing you to mill three cards and return Life from the Loam from your graveyard to your hand.
- 4Activate Seismic Assault by discarding a land card.
- 5Surly Badgersaur's second ability triggers, creating a Treasure artifact token.
- 6Resolve the Seismic Assault ability, dealing 2 damage to any target.
- 7Repeat from step 4 one additional time.
- 8Activate the three Treasure tokens by tapping and sacrificing them, adding .
Life from the Loam + Surly Badgersaur + Seismic Assault + Secluded Steppe
- 1Activate Secluded Steppe's cycling ability by paying
and discarding it. - 2Surly Badgersaur's second ability triggers, creating a Treasure artifact token.
- 3Resolve the Secluded Steppe ability, causing you to mill three cards and return Life from the Loam from your graveyard to your hand.
- 4Activate Seismic Assault by discarding a land card.
- 5Surly Badgersaur's second ability triggers, creating a Treasure artifact token.
- 6Resolve the Seismic Assault ability, dealing 2 damage to any target.
- 7Repeat from step 4 one additional time.
- 8Activate the three Treasure tokens by tapping and sacrificing them, adding .
Flumph + Dakmor Salvage + Seismic Assault
- 1Give Flumph indestructible by any method.
- 2Activate Seismic Assault by discarding Dakmor Salvage, dealing 2 damage to Flumph.
- 3Flumph triggers, causing an opponent to draw a card and you to mill two cards and return Dakmor Salvage to your hand from your graveyard.
- 4Repeat from step 2.
Legal formats
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