Gixian Skullflayer
Creature — Phyrexian Human Assassin
At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are three or more creature cards in your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The Brothers' War
- Price
- $0.12
- EDHREC rank
- #18128
Gixian Skullflayer can become a 4/4 menace for two mana, but only if your graveyard is stocked with three or more creature cards — a condition that's trivially met in self-mill and reanimator strategies and nearly impossible to satisfy in anything else. Run it when the condition is a given; ignore it when it isn't.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Gixian Skullflayer earns a slot in dedicated graveyard strategies — Karador, Ghost Chieftain, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, or any self-mill commander that fills the yard fast enough to flip the Skullflayer on curve. In Pauper, a two-mana 4/4 menace is legitimate pressure, and the format's dredge and threshold shells keep the graveyard full by turn two or three, making this a real threat worth respecting. Modern and Pioneer have access to far more consistent and resilient threats at the same mana cost, so Gixian Skullflayer doesn't compete there. Legacy and Vintage have even less interest — the ceiling is a 4/4 with no enter-the-battlefield effect in formats that win on turn one.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.12 bulk tier
At $0.12, Gixian Skullflayer is pure bulk — the kind of card you pick up as a throw-in without thinking twice. There's no meaningful price floor to hold here; it's a role-player in niche graveyard lists and nothing about that demand profile pushes the needle.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.