Hired Muscle // Scarmaker
Creature — Human Warrior // Legendary Creature — Spirit
Whenever you cast a Spirit or Arcane spell, you may put a ki counter on this creature.
At the beginning of the end step, if there are two or more ki counters on this creature, you may flip it.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Betrayers of Kamigawa
- Price
- $0.14
- EDHREC rank
- #28501
Hired Muscle // Scarmaker is a two-mana 2/2 that grows into a genuine threat — it connives on entry, and every non-Human creature you control can tap to add a +1/+1 counter, turning a wide board into a single enormous attacker. The cost is that it demands a non-Human creature package and at least three counters before it can flip, which means slow tables reward it and fast ones punish it.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Hired Muscle // Scarmaker fits best in Grixis or multi-color go-wide shells that incidentally run non-Human creatures — it scales with board state rather than replacing it, and the Scarmaker back half can close games if opponents let it grow unchecked. Legacy, Modern, and Vintage are all legal, but a three-counter flip condition on a 2/2 is far too slow against those format's threats and interaction density; it has no realistic role in any of them. Commander is the only format where the grind-and-grow plan has the time to pay off.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.14 bulk tier
At $0.14, Hired Muscle // Scarmaker is deep bulk — you're not paying a premium for anything here. It's unlikely to appreciate unless a specific commander pushes it into high-demand territory, so pick it up freely and don't think twice about the cost.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.