Riptide Crab
Creature — Crab
Vigilance
When this creature dies, draw a card.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- UW
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Battlebond
- Price
- $0.04
- EDHREC rank
- #25648
Riptide Crab trades itself for a land card when it dies, which is a fine rate on a 1/3 body for three mana — but "fine" is the ceiling here. Better cantrip creatures and better landfall payoffs exist at every point on the curve, so Riptide Crab earns a slot only in decks that specifically reward both sacrifice and land-drop density.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Riptide Crab fits narrowest in sacrifice-value shells that also care about lands entering the battlefield — think Muldrotha, the Gravetide or similar self-mill commanders who can recur it repeatedly for incremental landfall triggers. In Pauper, the common slot is brutally competitive, and a 1/3 for three that replaces itself with a land on death isn't doing enough to fight through the format's efficient threats. Legacy and Vintage are non-starters; Riptide Crab's rate doesn't register at those power levels. Oathbreaker mirrors the Commander read — playable only if your signature spell or planeswalker is actively rewarding land drops.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.04 bulk tier
At $0.04, Riptide Crab is deep bulk — you'll find it in a commons box before you'd bother ordering it. That price reflects demand, not undervaluation; there's no price-discovery story here.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.