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Bogardan Phoenix

Creature — Phoenix

Flying
When this creature dies, exile it if it had a death counter on it. Otherwise, return it to the battlefield under your control and put a death counter on it.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{2}{R}{R}{R}
Color identity
R
Rarity
rare
Set
Visions
Price
$1.52
EDHREC rank
#26296
Buy on TCGplayer
Bogardan Phoenix card art
Bogardan Phoenix trades a permanent damage counter for a free return from the graveyard — resilient in theory, but the counter clause means Solemnity shuts down the recursion entirely and leaves you with a vanilla 3/3 flyer for five mana. It earns a slot only in decks that actively exploit the damage counter or trigger on self-recursion; everywhere else it's too conditional to justify the cost.

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

Bogardan Phoenix is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but sees essentially no competitive play in any of them. In Commander it occupies a narrow niche in red recursion or damage-counter builds — Solemnity sitting across the table permanently grounds it, and five mana for a 3/3 flyer is a poor rate without the recursion upside. Legacy and Vintage offer far more efficient threats and graveyard engines, so Bogardan Phoenix never makes the cut there. Oathbreaker is the one context where a dedicated Ral or Chandra shell might squeeze some value out of the recursion loop, but it remains a fringe include at best.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$1.52 cheap tier

At $1.52, Bogardan Phoenix sits in budget territory where the barrier to trying it is low. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to climb — it's a casual pick-up, not a card to stock up on.

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Sources

Mentioned

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