Axelrod Gunnarson
Legendary Creature — Giant
Trample
Whenever a creature dealt damage by Axelrod Gunnarson this turn dies, you gain 1 life and Axelrod Gunnarson deals 1 damage to target player or planeswalker.
- CMC
- 8
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BR
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Masters Edition III
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #28325
Axelrod Gunnarson swings in, deals first strike damage, and then forces every creature it damages to deal damage to its own controller — a punishing combat effect stapled to a 5/4 body. Eight mana is a brutal ask for a creature that does nothing until it attacks and dies to any instant-speed removal.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is the only realistic home for Axelrod Gunnarson, and even there it's a fringe pick — eight mana buys you a lot of finishers that don't require a successful attack to generate value. Legacy and Vintage are legal formats on paper, but no competitive list has ever wanted an eight-mana vanilla-adjacent creature. The first-strike-damage-redirection ability is genuinely unique, but the floor is too low: if Axelrod Gunnarson gets blocked by a 1/1 token, you've spent your whole turn moving one damage around.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data isn't available for Axelrod Gunnarson right now, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for current market values. As a heavily underplayed legend from an old set, copies tend to sit in bulk bins — demand is low and likely to stay that way.
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Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.