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Snapping Sailback

Creature — Dinosaur

Flash
Enrage — Whenever this creature is dealt damage, put a +1/+1 counter on it. (It must survive the damage to get the counter.)

CMC
5
Mana cost
{4}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Ixalan
Price
$0.28
EDHREC rank
#13948
Buy on TCGplayer
Snapping Sailback card art
Snapping Sailback drops a 5/4 with reach that immediately triggers Animation Module if you have a counter on the battlefield — the flash timing means you can do it at end of turn and untap swinging. The cost is real: five mana for a vanilla-sized body is below rate, and outside of counter-synergy shells like Wayta, Trainer Prodigy there is no reason to run it.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Wayta, Trainer Prodigy

Wayta, Trainer Prodigy

29.3% of decks · synergy 0.28

Wayta, Trainer Prodigy reduces the cost of Snapping Sailback's power-check ability and triggers off every counter placed on it, turning a five-mana flash body into a consistent source of card advantage the moment it lands.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Snapping Sailback is a Commander card, full stop — the counter synergies it relies on exist at density only in the 99. In Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer it is simply outclassed: five mana for a 5/4 reach with flash does not compete with what those formats offer at the same slot. Oathbreaker could theoretically support it in a counters build, but the smaller deck size makes the redundancy harder to justify. Play Snapping Sailback where you can build around it, which in practice means Commander.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.28 bulk tier

At $0.28, Snapping Sailback is bulk — you are not paying a premium for anything here. Bulk commons and uncommons with narrow combo applications tend to stay in this range, so there is no urgency either way; pick it up whenever you need it.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.