Is Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge good in Commander?

Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge in Commander

Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge lands as a 5/4 flyer for three mana — one of the best stats-per-mana ratios on any dragon in the game — with the catch that it can't attack unless you control three or more artifacts. The artifact condition is trivially satisfied in treasure-generating or sacrifice-looping shells, and Malik, Grim Manipulator decks in particular treat it as a free body that also makes treasures off opponents' creatures dying.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Malik, Grim Manipulator

42.8% of decks · synergy 0.42

Malik, Grim Manipulator sacrifices opponents' creatures and turns them into treasures, which means Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge both clears the artifact-count hurdle to swing and generates more treasures from those same deaths — the two cards are doing the same job and rewarding each other for it.

02

The Balrog, Durin's Bane

32.6% of decks · synergy 0.31

The Balrog, Durin's Bane forces opponents to sacrifice creatures on its attack, flooding the battlefield with tokens that satisfy Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge's artifact requirement while Gadrak sits back as a defensive wall or secondary attacker once the threshold is met.

03

Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest

32.9% of decks · synergy 0.29

Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest rewards stacking your curve with dragons, and Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge is one of the most mana-efficient dragons in the game — three mana for a 5/4 flyer that also accrues treasures makes it one of the first inclusions in any Dragonhawk list.

04

Lathliss, Dragon Queen

31.8% of decks · synergy 0.28

Lathliss, Dragon Queen triggers an extra 5/5 dragon token every time a dragon enters under your control, so Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge is pulling double duty: cheap enough to cast early, big enough to matter, and it immediately gives Lathliss another trigger to spread the board.

05

Knuckles the Echidna

26.4% of decks · synergy 0.23

Knuckles the Echidna cares about artifacts and treasure generation to fuel its ability, and Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge produces treasures at end of turn for each creature that died during the turn — in any combat-heavy Knuckles build, that's consistent, free fuel.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

Format	Verdict
commander	legal
legacy	legal
modern	legal
pioneer	legal
standard	not legal
vintage	legal
pauper	not legal
oathbreaker	legal

In Commander, Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge is a staple pickup for any red deck that generates treasures or runs a sacrifice engine — the artifact condition is a speed bump, not a wall, and a 5/4 flyer for three mana is absurdly above rate for the format. In competitive 60-card formats like Modern and Legacy, it doesn't see meaningful play: the artifact clause is a real liability when you can't guarantee artifacts on board early, and three-mana creatures in those formats need to do more immediately. Pioneer is the same story — fine in a casual dragon or treasure deck, but not a constructed staple. Oathbreaker slots it naturally into any red treasure-focused build where the singleton restriction doesn't hurt a card this efficient.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.48 bulk tier

At $0.48, Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge is bulk — deeply underpriced for what it does in Commander treasure and sacrifice shells. It's not a card under buy pressure, but picking up copies now costs almost nothing, and its inclusion rate in Malik and dragon-tribal lists suggests it's not going to disappear from relevance.