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Serra Avatar

Creature — Avatar

Serra Avatar's power and toughness are each equal to your life total.
When Serra Avatar is put into a graveyard from anywhere, shuffle it into its owner's library.

CMC
7
Mana cost
{4}{W}{W}{W}
Color identity
W
Rarity
rare
Set
World Championship Decks 2000
Price
$2.02
EDHREC rank
#7490
Buy on TCGplayer
Serra Avatar card art
Serra Avatar enters as a creature whose power and toughness equal your life total — often a 40/40 on turn one of a Commander game — and its shuffle-on-death clause means it never stays gone. The catch is seven mana and no evasion built in, which makes Brion Stoutarm the canonical home: fling it before blockers matter, deal 40 damage, shuffle it back, repeat.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Brion Stoutarm

Brion Stoutarm

69.7% of decks · synergy 0.68

Brion Stoutarm is the reason Serra Avatar shows up in 70% of decks built around him — Brion's fling ability turns a 40/40 into 40 damage aimed directly at a player's face, and Serra Avatar shuffles back into the library on death so you can tutor it again next turn.

02
Bre of Clan Stoutarm

Bre of Clan Stoutarm

21.5% of decks · synergy 0.20

Bre of Clan Stoutarm shares the Stoutarm fling-and-recur gameplan, and Serra Avatar's life-total scaling means it arrives as a massive threat the moment your life total is healthy — which Bre's lifegain support tends to ensure.

03
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic

13.9% of decks · synergy 0.13

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic passively inflates your life total every upkeep, and every point of life gained directly translates into a bigger Serra Avatar — a 60/60 is not unusual in a game where Oloro has been ticking for several turns.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is Serra Avatar's natural habitat: starting life totals are high, games go long enough to cast a seven-mana creature, and the shuffle clause is a meaningful advantage when commanders and tutors make repeated access realistic. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but essentially unplayable — seven mana is a lifetime in those formats, and a vanilla-sized creature with no immediate board impact doesn't compete. Modern has the same problem compounded by a denser removal suite; Serra Avatar will die before it attacks, and the shuffle clause doesn't matter if you never untap with it. Stick to Commander, and specifically to life-total-matters or fling shells where the size is a payoff rather than a curiosity.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$2.02 cheap tier

At $2.02, Serra Avatar sits comfortably in budget territory for what is, in the right shell, a legitimate game-ending threat. The price reflects its narrow fit — outside of Brion Stoutarm and similar fling commanders, demand is low — so don't expect it to climb, but for the decks that want it, $2 is an easy inclusion.

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Sources

Mentioned

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