Serum-Core Chimera
Creature — Phyrexian Chimera
Flying
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, put an oil counter on this creature.
Remove three oil counters from this creature: Draw a card. Then you may discard a nonland card. When you discard a card this way, this creature deals 3 damage to target creature or planeswalker. Activate only as a sorcery.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- RU
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Phyrexia: All Will Be One
- Price
- $0.06
- EDHREC rank
- #22523
Serum-Core Chimera turns every instant and sorcery you cast into a permanent buff and a cantrip, snowballing its power while keeping your hand full. The three-mana body is the cost, and for a spell-heavy Commander deck it's a deal worth taking.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Serum-Core Chimera earns its keep — spellslinger decks running Niv-Mizzet, Parun or Veyran, Voice of Duality generate counters and cards at a pace that turns it into a legitimate threat within a few turns. In Modern and Pioneer it competes against staples with more immediate impact and rarely makes the cut outside of budget brews or dedicated spells-matter shells. Legacy and Vintage have the card quality to abuse the cantrip chain, but the payoff is too slow relative to what those formats are doing. Oathbreaker, like Commander, rewards it in the right build.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.06 bulk tier
At $0.06, Serum-Core Chimera is deep bulk — pick it out of any commons box without a second thought. Bulk rares with narrow homes rarely climb without a tournament breakout, and this one has no constructed pedigree to drive demand.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.