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Lu Xun, Scholar General

Legendary Creature — Human Soldier

Horsemanship (This creature can't be blocked except by creatures with horsemanship.)
Whenever Lu Xun deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.

CMC
4
Mana cost
{2}{U}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
Portal Three Kingdoms
Price
$27.17
EDHREC rank
#16442
Buy on TCGplayer
Lu Xun, Scholar General card art
Lu Xun, Scholar General draws a card every time it deals combat damage to a player — and because it has horsemanship, blocking it requires a blocker with horsemanship, which almost nothing in Commander has. Pair it with Mind Over Matter and that card advantage loop becomes a engine that can empty your hand and tap or untap permanents at will, which is where the card stops being a utility creature and starts closing games.

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

Lu Xun, Scholar General is a Commander card — full stop. In that format, horsemanship is a near-unblockable keyword against the field, and a guaranteed draw trigger on a two-mana body is the kind of sustained advantage that wins long games. Legacy and Vintage are both legal but irrelevant; those formats don't want a three-mana 1/1 with no immediate impact in a landscape of free interaction and turn-two kills. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander format worth mentioning, where its low cost and evasion make it a serviceable role-player in a blue spell-slinger shell.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

The honest answer is that nothing replicates horsemanship's near-universal evasion at a lower price point — most cheap draw-on-damage creatures rely on keywords like flying or intimidate that tables can answer. Coastal Piracy and Reconnaissance Mission both give you the damage-trigger draw effect on a permanent, trading the creature body for resilience, at a fraction of the cost if the card-draw engine is what you're after rather than Lu Xun, Scholar General's specific evasion.

Price Context

Current price

$27.17 premium tier

At $27.17, Lu Xun, Scholar General sits in premium single territory, driven almost entirely by scarcity — it's only ever appeared on the Portal: Three Kingdoms sheet, which keeps supply historically tight. That price is stable for a reserved-list-adjacent collectible with a real competitive niche, but you're paying for the print run as much as the card.

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Sources

Mentioned

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