Skemfar Avenger
Creature — Elf Berserker
Whenever another nontoken Elf or Berserker you control dies, you draw a card and you lose 1 life.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Kaldheim Promos
- Price
- $0.34
- EDHREC rank
- #7991
Skemfar Avenger turns every Elf or Warrior death into a free card, and in tribal decks that lose creatures regularly to combat and sacrifice effects, that trigger fires constantly. The cost is real — you lose a life per card drawn — but the raw volume of draw it generates makes it a staple in any black-green Elf build running Abomination of Llanowar.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Abomination of Llanowar
Abomination of Llanowar's stat line scales with every Elf in the graveyard, which means the deck is already engineering a constant flow of Elf deaths — exactly the condition that makes Skemfar Avenger a draw engine rather than a situational roleplayer.
Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Lathril, Blade of the Elves floods the board with tokens and then demands attacks, meaning Elves die in combat every turn; Skemfar Avenger converts that natural attrition into card advantage without requiring any additional setup.
Tyvar the Bellicose
Tyvar the Bellicose rewards going wide with Elves and pushing through damage, so the aggressive lines that lose creatures in blocks are the same lines that let Skemfar Avenger refuel your hand mid-combat.
High Perfect Morcant
High Perfect Morcant cares about Warriors as well as Elves, and Skemfar Avenger covers both creature types, meaning nearly every creature death in that shell will trigger the draw — broader coverage than in a pure Elf deck.
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 |
Skemfar Avenger is a Commander card through and through — the trigger scales with board density and sacrifice loops that simply don't exist at the same frequency in 1v1 formats. In Modern and Pioneer it's a 2/3 for two that draws cards only when your creatures die, which is a fragile value proposition when your opponent can elect not to block and strand the trigger. Legacy has better two-drops for Elf strategies and better draw engines that don't cost life. Commander is where Skemfar Avenger earns its slot: multiplayer games run longer, Elf tokens die in waves, and the life payment across multiple triggers is negligible when you start at 40.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.34 bulk tier
At $0.34, Skemfar Avenger is deep bulk — pickup cost is negligible for any player building Elf tribal in Commander. Cards in this tier rarely move unless a new high-profile Elf commander spikes demand, so treat it as a stable, cheap include rather than a spec.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Abomination of Llanowar
- Lathril, Blade of the Elves
- Tyvar the Bellicose
- High Perfect Morcant
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.