Fangkeeper's Familiar
Creature — Snake
Flash
When this creature enters, choose one —
• You gain 3 life and surveil 3. (Look at the top three cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.)
• Destroy target enchantment.
• Counter target creature spell.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BGU
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Tarkir: Dragonstorm Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #10873
Fangkeeper's Familiar delivers a persistent life-gain trigger on a cheap, recurrable body — the kind of effect that quietly fuels commanders who care about each individual life-gain event. Teval, Arbiter of Virtue runs it because every trigger is a counter, and a familiar that keeps coming back means the engine never stalls.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Teval, Arbiter of Virtue
Teval, Arbiter of Virtue wants every discrete life-gain trigger it can get, and Fangkeeper's Familiar provides one on entry and again each time it's returned from the graveyard — making it a repeatable counter source rather than a one-shot contributor.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Fangkeeper's Familiar is a role-player, not a headliner — it earns its slot in life-gain-matters builds where the number of triggers counts more than the amount of life gained per trigger. Outside Commander, the card is legal across Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, and Vintage, but constructed life-gain strategies in those formats demand more immediate impact and higher ceiling than a two-drop familiar can offer. Pauper is the one format where it can't show up at all. Stick to Commander, specifically to Teval or similarly trigger-hungry commanders, and it punches at its cost.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Fangkeeper's Familiar isn't confirmed yet, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the current market rate before buying. As a new, narrow tribal-adjacent uncommon, it typically settles under a dollar once supply stabilizes — low-risk pickup if the deck calls for it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.