Harbor Serpent
Creature — Serpent
Islandwalk (This creature can't be blocked as long as defending player controls an Island.)
This creature can't attack unless there are five or more Islands on the battlefield.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Magic 2012
- Price
- $0.06
- EDHREC rank
- #19855
Harbor Serpent is a six-mana 5/5 with islandwalk that can't attack unless there are three or more Islands in play — a significant condition that frequently goes unmet outside dedicated Island-heavy builds. Bulk rare territory: the body is underpowered for the cost and the evasion is too conditional to rely on.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Harbor Serpent is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker, but sees essentially no competitive play in any of them. In Commander, a six-mana 5/5 needs to do something immediately — Harbor Serpent's islandwalk only triggers if opponents are running Islands, which you cannot control. Pauper is the one format where bulk commons sometimes find a niche, but aggressive blue tempo decks there want cheaper threats, not a vanilla-adjacent six-drop. Across all formats, Harbor Serpent is outclassed by creatures that offer unconditional evasion or immediate board impact at the same cost.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.06 bulk tier
At $0.06, Harbor Serpent is deep bulk — the kind of card that fills a draft pile rather than a trade binder. That price is a ceiling, not a floor: there is no realistic demand driver that would move it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.