Scuttling Death
Creature — Spirit
Sacrifice this creature: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Soulshift 4 (When this creature dies, you may return target Spirit card with mana value 4 or less from your graveyard to your hand.)
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Champions of Kamigawa
- Price
- $0.12
- EDHREC rank
- #26668
Scuttling Death puts a 5/1 with Swampwalk on the board and, when it dies, lets you sacrifice another creature to return it to hand — a built-in recursion loop that keeps the threat alive. The five-mana cost is real, but the repeatable death-trigger value earns the slot in the right shell.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Scuttling Death earns its place in sacrifice-value decks that want a recursive threat requiring minimal additional investment — every time it hits the graveyard, you feed another creature to bring it back and do it again. Pauper is where it genuinely competes, since recursive threats at common are scarce and the Swampwalk clause punishes black-heavy mana bases. Legacy and Vintage are too fast for a five-mana creature with no immediate haymaker effect, so Scuttling Death won't see daylight there outside of niche casual play.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.12 bulk tier
At $0.12, Scuttling Death is deep bulk — you can pick up a playset without noticing the cost. Don't expect the price to move; recursive commons rarely climb unless a specific commander pushes sustained demand.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.