Ebon Drake
Creature — Drake
Flying
Whenever a player casts a spell, you lose 1 life.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Fifth Dawn
- Price
- $1.09
- EDHREC rank
- #10186
Ebon Drake is a 3/1 flyer for two mana — one of the best stats-per-mana ratios in black — and the cost is that each opponent can pay 1 life to make you lose control of it. In Jon Irenicus, Shattered One builds, that downside is the point: you donate it, the opponent bleeds, and you move on.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Jon Irenicus, Shattered One
Jon Irenicus, Shattered One runs Ebon Drake because gifting a 3/1 flyer with a punishing life-loss trigger is exactly the engine Jon Irenicus wants — the recipient hemorrhages life just by holding it, and Jon Irenicus can keep pushing more cursed gifts across the table.
Blim, Comedic Genius
Blim, Comedic Genius passes Ebon Drake to opponents as a liability: once it's their problem, every turn they either eat the life loss or jump through hoops to pass it back, which is exactly the sustained drain that Blim decks weaponize.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Ebon Drake is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but its real home is Commander — specifically the gift-and-curse archetype where its downside becomes a weapon. In Legacy and Vintage the two-mana 3/1 flyer is fine rate, but the symmetrical-ish drawback is a liability in 1v1 where you can't control who holds the Drake. Modern is the same story: fast formats punish the opponent-choice clause, and there are cleaner two-drops without strings attached. Commander is where Ebon Drake earns its slot, because multiplayer tables and donation commanders turn a printed downside into a political tool.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.09 cheap tier
At $1.09, Ebon Drake sits in the cheap tier — low enough to be a no-brainer inclusion in any Jon Irenicus, Shattered One or Blim build that wants it. It's a narrow card with a dedicated audience, so the price is stable rather than speculative.
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Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.