MagicTheGathering.fyi

Baxter, Fly in the Ointment

Legendary Creature — Insect Mutant Scientist

Whenever Baxter enters or attacks, each creature you control with a counter on it gains flying until end of turn.
Whenever you draw a card, put a +1/+1 counter on Baxter.

CMC
4
Mana cost
{3}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Eternal
Price
$0.33
EDHREC rank
#9834
Buy on TCGplayer
Baxter, Fly in the Ointment card art
Baxter, Fly in the Ointment taxes every opponent's draw step with a ping, turning a passive board presence into a clock that scales with table size — that's a lot of damage for a card that costs almost nothing to acquire. Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart and O'aka, Traveling Merchant both play in high-draw environments where Baxter's trigger fires constantly, which is exactly where this card earns its slot.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Leonardo, the BalanceMichelangelo, the Heart

Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart

68.3% of decks · synergy 0.63

Leonardo, the Balance // Michelangelo, the Heart wheels constantly, which means opponents draw constantly, which means Baxter, Fly in the Ointment is pinging every player on every wheel — a single wheel at a four-player table can represent eight or more damage before anyone attacks.

02
Arjun, the Shifting Flame

Arjun, the Shifting Flame

8.8% of decks · synergy 0.09

Arjun, the Shifting Flame replaces your hand on every spell cast, triggering mass draw at a furious rate; Baxter, Fly in the Ointment converts that chaos into chip damage that quietly closes games while Arjun keeps the hand churn going.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Baxter, Fly in the Ointment does its best work — three opponents means three triggers per draw step before any wheels or extra draw fire, and multiplayer tables reward exactly this kind of passive damage accumulation. Legacy and Vintage are legal homes on paper, but the effect is too slow and too low-impact for those formats, where games end before Baxter's drip damage becomes relevant. Oathbreaker is worth a mention if you're running a wheel-heavy spellslinger planeswalker, since the format's faster pace and lower life totals make the per-draw ping more meaningful.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.33 bulk tier

At $0.33, Baxter, Fly in the Ointment is bulk — you're picking this up as an afterthought in a package, not hunting it down. The price is unlikely to move much unless a high-profile Commander precon features a draw-step punishment theme that pushes demand.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.