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Hellkite Courser

Creature — Dragon

Flying
When this creature enters, you may put a commander you own from the command zone onto the battlefield. It gains haste. Return it to the command zone at the beginning of the next end step.

CMC
6
Mana cost
{4}{R}{R}
Color identity
R
Rarity
mythic
Set
Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander
Price
$2.60
EDHREC rank
#1922
Buy on TCGplayer
Hellkite Courser card art
Hellkite Courser puts your commander into play — with haste — for the cost of tapping and swinging with a 6/5 flyer, and returns it to the command zone at end of turn so the legend rule never bites you. The cost is real: you need a creature already attacking, which means it's a mid-to-late-game piece, not an opener. Pair it with Cloudstone Curio or a commander like Ureni of the Unwritten that already wants dragons in play, and the tempo swing is decisive.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Ureni of the Unwritten

Ureni of the Unwritten

85.9% of decks · synergy 0.80

Ureni of the Unwritten is the premier home — Hellkite Courser triggers Ureni's ability when it attacks, fetching another dragon from the library while simultaneously putting your commander into play for a free trigger chain. At 86% inclusion, it's practically a staple.

02

Etali, Primal Conqueror

66.0% of decks · synergy 0.62

Hellkite Courser lets Etali, Primal Conqueror come down a full turn cycle early, attack immediately with haste, and trigger its chaos ability before opponents can answer it — the return-to-command-zone clause is irrelevant when you've already cast four spells for free.

03
The Ur-Dragon

The Ur-Dragon

54.1% of decks · synergy 0.49

The Ur-Dragon decks want as many dragons attacking as possible, and Hellkite Courser fills the curve while also sneaking The Ur-Dragon onto the battlefield to generate card advantage the moment it connects.

04
Obeka, Brute Chronologist

Obeka, Brute Chronologist

48.7% of decks · synergy 0.48

Obeka, Brute Chronologist can end the turn in response to Hellkite Courser's delayed trigger, keeping the commander on the battlefield permanently instead of returning it — a clean exploit that makes Hellkite Courser a recurring free cast.

05
Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient

Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient

19.2% of decks · synergy 0.15

Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient generates enormous mana when multiple creatures attack, and Hellkite Courser adds both a large body to the attack and a free commander trigger, compounding the mana production on the same swing.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Hellkite Courser is a Commander card through and through — the entire design assumes a command zone and a legendary creature worth cheating into play, neither of which exists in Legacy or Vintage as meaningful constructs. In those formats it's technically legal but unplayable, a 6/5 flying haste beater for six that does nothing on its own. Commander is where Hellkite Courser earns its slot: the mechanic maps perfectly onto the singleton format's central axis, and decks built around expensive or high-impact commanders treat it as an accelerant and a threat simultaneously. Oathbreaker is a functional format for it as well, where the same logic applies at a smaller scale.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$2.60 cheap tier

At $2.60, Hellkite Courser sits in the cheap tier despite being a genuine staple in multiple high-volume commander builds. That price reflects solid supply rather than low demand — it's an easy include at this cost, and there's no budget substitute that replicates the haste-plus-free-commander-drop effect.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.