Backstreet Bruiser
Creature — Octopus Rogue
Defender
As long as there are two or more counters among creatures you control, this creature can attack as though it didn't have defender.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Streets of New Capenna
- Price
- $0.03
- EDHREC rank
- #25560
Backstreet Bruiser is a 3/3 for three with deathtouch that gains additional power whenever you cycle or discard a card — reasonable stats stapled to a payoff engine in the right shell. Outside dedicated cycling or discard decks, a vanilla 3/3 deathtouch for three is underpowered for Commander and not competitive in any other format.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Backstreet Bruiser earns its slot only in cycling-matters or discard-matters builds — think Zur, Seasoned Duelist or Brallin, Skyshark Rider — where repeated triggers can turn it into a massive threat over several turns. In Pauper, cycling decks have historically been a real archetype, but Backstreet Bruiser competes with more efficient threats and enablers at the same slot, making it a fringe inclusion at best. Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, and Vintage have no competitive cycling shell that wants a three-mana creature this slow, so Backstreet Bruiser stays on the bench in those formats.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.03 bulk tier
At $0.03, Backstreet Bruiser is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard, not the card. That price is stable by definition: there's no demand spike coming for a niche common, so pick it up freely if the deck calls for it and don't think twice about the cost.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.