Skullmane Baku
Creature — Spirit
Whenever you cast a Spirit or Arcane spell, you may put a ki counter on this creature.
, 
, Remove X ki counters from this creature: Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Betrayers of Kamigawa
- Price
- $0.15
- EDHREC rank
- #26919
Skullmane Baku is a slow, conditional -1/-1 engine that asks you to invest spirit and arcane spells just to shrink one creature at a time. The payoff never matches the setup cost — this is a bulk rare for a reason.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Skullmane Baku sees essentially no competitive play anywhere it's legal. In Commander, -1/-1 counters as a removal mode are too slow and too fragile — opponents rebuild boards faster than you can drain a single creature. In Pauper, cheaper and more reliable removal exists at every turn of the curve. Legacy and Vintage wouldn't register Skullmane Baku as a consideration; the spirit and arcane synergy package required to charge it up is simply not present in those formats. If you're building a dedicated Kamigawa spirit-tribal Commander list, it earns a look as flavor, but even there it's near the bottom of the pile.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.15 bulk tier
At $0.15, Skullmane Baku is deep bulk — the price reflects demand accurately. Don't expect it to move; there's no competitive breakout scenario that changes that calculus.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.