Etherium Pteramander
Artifact Creature — Salamander Drake
Flying
This creature can block only creatures with flying.
: Adapt 4. This ability costs 
less to activate for each other artifact you control. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put four +1/+1 counters on it.)
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Modern Horizons 3
- Price
- $0.17
- EDHREC rank
- #15150
Etherium Pteramander enters as a 1/1 flier and adapts into a 4/4 for two mana once you've cast enough spells — a threat that scales with the game without asking much from your mana base. Commanders like Gonti, Night Minister that generate extra casts and card-advantage triggers make the adapt cost trivial to hit.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Gonti, Night Minister
Gonti, Night Minister triggers off opponents' life loss and generates value through repeated ETB and cast effects, giving Etherium Pteramander a spell-dense environment where the adapt threshold arrives fast and the 4/4 flying body closes out a drained table.
Rev, Tithe Extractor
Rev, Tithe Extractor rewards taxing and draining gameplay with incremental life-loss triggers, and Etherium Pteramander slots in as an evasive pressure piece that can grow into a genuine finisher once the spell count climbs.
Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor converts combat damage into card draw, flooding your hand and padding your spell count — exactly the environment where Etherium Pteramander's adapt condition resolves before midgame and the 4/4 flier starts carrying the offense.
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 |
In Commander, Etherium Pteramander earns its slot in spell-heavy black decks that can reliably hit eight-plus instant and sorcery count by midgame, where the 4/4 body is a credible closer rather than a novelty. In Legacy and Vintage, the adapt mechanic is too slow for the format's pace — Etherium Pteramander can't compete in an environment where turn-one and turn-two plays decide games. Modern offers the most interesting non-Commander case: a dedicated spells shell could meet the adapt threshold, but the card still competes against a deep pool of more immediately impactful threats and typically loses that fight. Oathbreaker mirrors the Commander read — playable in the right spells-matter build, irrelevant outside it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.17 bulk tier
At $0.17, Etherium Pteramander is pure bulk — no barrier to picking up copies for any black spells-matters build that wants it. Bulk rares with narrow homes rarely appreciate, so grab it now if the deck calls for it and don't expect the price to move.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.