Spined Thopter
Artifact Creature — Phyrexian Thopter
(
can be paid with either 
or 2 life.)
Flying
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- New Phyrexia
- Price
- $0.06
- EDHREC rank
- #24360
Spined Thopter is a 2/1 flyer for two mana with the upside of Phyrexian mana letting you pay life instead of a colored pip — flexible to cast, but the stat line is too thin to matter past the early turns. It sees play specifically in Phyrexian-mana-matters builds; everywhere else, better two-drops exist.
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 |
In Commander, Spined Thopter is a niche inclusion: it shows up in decks that care about Phyrexian mana symbols, artifact creatures, or both — think Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines and similar tribal-synergy shells. In Pauper it's a legal common but competes against more efficient two-drop flyers and rarely makes the cut. Legacy and Vintage both technically allow it, but no competitive archetype wants a vanilla 2/1 flyer at that power level. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander — synergy-dependent, not a generic staple.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.06 bulk tier
At $0.06, Spined Thopter is deep bulk — you'll find it in a common box long before you'd pay for a copy online. Bulk commons don't appreciate; run it if the synergy is there, and don't think twice about the price.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.