Sinkhole Surveyor
Creature — Bird Scout
Flying
Whenever this creature attacks, you lose 1 life and this creature endures 1. (Put a +1/+1 counter on it or create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token.)
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Tarkir: Dragonstorm Promos
- Price
- $0.32
- EDHREC rank
- #9782
Sinkhole Surveyor enters the battlefield and immediately threatens a land destruction effect stapled to a creature body — the cost is that you need to have surveilled recently enough to fuel it. Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan decks are the natural home, where the surveil engine runs hot enough that the condition rarely goes unmet.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan
Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan generates consistent surveil triggers, which means Sinkhole Surveyor reliably connects — you're not running it as a gamble, you're running it as a removal spell that also attacks.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Sinkhole Surveyor is a role-player in surveil-heavy builds rather than a universal include — the condition ties it to specific engines, and land destruction at sorcery speed on a single target is narrow in a four-player format. Constructed formats are a different story: in Standard and Pioneer, surveil synergies are deep enough that triggering it on curve is realistic, and a 3/2 that blows up a land for no additional mana cost is a real tempo play. Modern and Legacy have faster, more reliable land disruption that makes Sinkhole Surveyor redundant, so it doesn't find a home there outside of surveil-theme brews.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.32 bulk tier
At $0.32, Sinkhole Surveyor is bulk — easy to pick up as a four-of without any real financial commitment. Bulk rares with narrow conditions tend to stay cheap unless the condition becomes a format staple trigger, so don't expect movement.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.