Pterafractyl
Creature — Dinosaur Fractal
Flying
This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it.
When this creature enters, you gain 2 life.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- GU
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Secrets of Strixhaven
- Price
- $0.20
- EDHREC rank
- #20066
Pterafractyl is a 3/3 flying dinosaur for four mana with a triggered ability that lets you pay one mana to proliferate whenever it deals combat damage to a player — solid body, relevant evasion, and repeatable counter spread stapled together. The cost is that it asks you to build around it: without counters already on the board, it's just a 3/3 flier for four, which isn't close to competitive.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Pterafractyl earns a slot in dedicated proliferate or +1/+1 counter builds — think Atraxa, Praetors' Voice or any energy/counter-stacking strategy where every additional proliferate trigger compounds fast. Outside of Commander, it's a fringe consideration at best: competitive Constructed formats move too quickly for a four-mana 3/3 that requires a mana payment to trigger, and the proliferate payoff only matters if you're already ahead on counters. Pauper is the one non-Commander format where slower, synergy-forward creature strategies are viable, but even there a four-drop needs to do more than threaten a one-mana proliferate on damage. Pterafractyl is a Commander card through and through.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.20 bulk tier
At $0.20, Pterafractyl sits firmly in bulk territory — easy to pick up as a throw-in or in a bundle without thinking twice about the cost. It's unlikely to appreciate unless a dominant Pterafractyl-specific commander or a proliferate spike in Commander demand pulls it out of bulk, so treat it as a cheap role-player and nothing more.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.