Skarrgan Firebird
Creature — Phoenix
Bloodthirst 3 (If an opponent was dealt damage this turn, this creature enters with three +1/+1 counters on it.)
Flying
: Return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Activate only if an opponent was dealt damage this turn.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Archenemy: Nicol Bolas
- Price
- $0.23
- EDHREC rank
- #18099
Skarrgan Firebird hits the board as a 3/3 flying haste threat that refuels your hand when it dies — and in the right shell, it dies constantly on purpose. The bloodthirst requirement on the recur cost is a nonissue alongside Syrix, Carrier of the Flame, which pings opponents every time a Phoenix enters the graveyard and triggers the recursion engine automatically.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Syrix, Carrier of the Flame
Syrix, Carrier of the Flame turns every Phoenix death into a free Shock, and Skarrgan Firebird's pay-four-recur clause becomes a reliable loop when Syrix's damage keeps bloodthirst live — the two cards are functionally co-dependent pieces of the same engine.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Skarrgan Firebird is a Commander card through and through — the self-recursion and card-draw payoff scale with the longer game and the reliable damage sources a 100-card singleton format provides. In Legacy and Vintage it's outclassed by cheaper, faster threats and will never see a sideboard slot, let alone a main. Modern has far more efficient recursive threats, so Skarrgan Firebird doesn't compete there either. Commander is where the combination of evasion, haste, built-in card draw, and graveyard recursion actually gets to matter.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.23 bulk tier
At $0.23, Skarrgan Firebird sits firmly in bulk territory — easy to pick up as a throw-in or cheap buylist fill. Demand is narrow enough that the price isn't going anywhere, but for Phoenix tribal Commander builds it's an auto-include at essentially no cost.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.