Hordewing Skaab
Creature — Zombie Horror
Flying
Other Zombies you control have flying.
Whenever one or more Zombies you control deal combat damage to one or more of your opponents, you may draw cards equal to the number of opponents dealt damage this way. If you do, discard that many cards.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Midnight Hunt Commander
- Price
- $7.73
- EDHREC rank
- #3952
Hordewing Skaab gives every Zombie you control flying — on a 4/4 flying body for five mana — which turns a horizontal zombie horde into an evasion-based combat threat overnight. In Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver decks, where the board floods with decayed tokens that can't block anyway, the upgrade to flying attackers is frequently lethal.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver churns out decayed Zombie tokens every turn, and Hordewing Skaab converts that wide board into a flying alpha strike that most tables can't chump-block away.
Varina, Lich Queen
Varina, Lich Queen attacks with the whole Zombie tribe, and Hordewing Skaab's anthem-style evasion means her attack triggers connect more reliably — more damage, more cards drawn, more life gained.
Geralf, the Fleshwright
Geralf, the Fleshwright builds a board of Zombie tokens from spell-casting, so Hordewing Skaab turns what would be a ground stall into an aerial assault the moment it lands.
The Scarab God
The Scarab God reanimates creatures as 4/4 Zombies, and Hordewing Skaab pushes those beefy bodies past ground defenses, making each stolen creature a flying threat rather than a potential blocker trade.
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born sacs Zombies to grow and untap, and Hordewing Skaab ensures the rest of the board isn't sitting idle — flying tokens apply clock pressure while Grimgrin handles single-target kills.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Hordewing Skaab is a Commander card through and through — its payoff scales directly with board width, and only multiplayer Zombie tribal lists reliably flood the board enough to justify five mana for a flying anthem. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but non-competitive; those formats don't support the slow tribal build-up the card demands, and a five-mana do-nothing-immediately enchantment creature won't survive the pace. Oathbreaker is the one fringe format where a Zombie-focused shell could exploit it, but the card pool there is narrower. Play Hordewing Skaab in Commander and nowhere else.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Eternal Skylord fills essentially the same role — five mana for a flying Zombie that grants flying to your other Zombies — and sits well under a dollar, making it the direct budget swap for Hordewing Skaab. The trade-off is raw stats: Hordewing Skaab is a 4/4 versus Eternal Skylord's 3/3, which matters when you need a threat on board, not just a lord effect.
Price Context
Current price
$7.73 mid tier
At $7.73, Hordewing Skaab sits in the mid tier — meaningful spend for a role-player, but reasonable given how often it appears as a near-auto-include in Zombie tribal lists. It's not a card that's likely to spike further since sub-$1 alternatives exist, so buy it if you're building the deck now and don't over-invest expecting appreciation.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.