Imperial Hellkite
Creature — Dragon
Flying
Morph 
(You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 
. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)
When this creature is turned face up, you may search your library for a Dragon card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
- CMC
- 7
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Murders at Karlov Manor Commander
- Price
- $0.18
- EDHREC rank
- #17946
Imperial Hellkite enters, tutors any Dragon from your library directly into play, and hits for 6 flying damage the same turn — that's a two-for-one threat stapled to a 6/6 body. Seven mana is real, but in Dragon tribal that cost is rarely a problem, and Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods decks are happy to cast this for free off a cascade trigger.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods
Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods cascades into Imperial Hellkite for free, then the Hellkite's tutor fetches whichever Dragon closes the game — Hellkite Tyrant, Terror of the Peaks, whatever the board demands — turning one cascade hit into a two-Dragon swing.
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 |
Commander is where Imperial Hellkite lives. Dragon tribal is a perennial EDH archetype with enough redundancy and ramp to reach seven mana consistently, and a tutor-on-a-stick that also closes out games is exactly what those decks want in the late curve. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but never played — seven-mana creatures don't survive long enough to see the trigger in those formats, and the tutor doesn't find anything broken enough to justify the investment. Oathbreaker has the same structural problem: too slow, too exposed.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.18 bulk tier
At $0.18, Imperial Hellkite is deep bulk — you'll find it in a common box or a dollar bin without trying. Bulk rares with genuine tribal utility tend to stay flat or tick up slightly as new Dragon commanders print, but at this price there's no meaningful downside to picking up copies now.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.