Tide Skimmer
Creature — Drake
Flying
Whenever you attack with two or more creatures with flying, draw a card.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Starter Commander Decks
- Price
- $0.09
- EDHREC rank
- #11427
Tide Skimmer draws a card whenever a creature with flying attacks, turning any bird or angel tribal board into a repeatable draw engine stapled to a 2/3 flyer. The four-mana cost is fair for that effect, and in Kangee, Sky Warden specifically, where every attacker already has wings, it's close to mandatory.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Kangee, Sky Warden
Kangee, Sky Warden wins by attacking with a wide board of buffed flyers, and Tide Skimmer converts every one of those swings into a card — a full grip by combat damage step is realistic on any developed board.
Alandra, Sky Dreamer
Alandra, Sky Dreamer rewards casting instants and sorceries with 2/2 Drake tokens that have flying, so Tide Skimmer plugs directly into the loop: make Drakes, attack, draw more spells to make more Drakes.
Errant and Giada
Errant and Giada care about creatures with flying entering and attacking, and Tide Skimmer's trigger fires on every one of those attackers — it's a steady card advantage engine in a deck that otherwise has to work hard for draws.
Cynette, Jelly Drover
Cynette, Jelly Drover generates Food tokens and cares about artifact creatures, but the deck leans on a flying theme to push through damage, and Tide Skimmer turns that aerial pressure into card advantage with no additional setup required.
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 |
Tide Skimmer is a Commander card through and through — the flying-matters trigger only reaches its ceiling in a dedicated tribal or evasion-heavy shell, and those exist almost exclusively in EDH. In Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer it's legal but irrelevant; four mana for a 2/3 draw engine is too slow and too conditional when those formats don't reliably flood the board with flyers. Vintage has the card legal but will never touch it. Commander is the only place Tide Skimmer performs, and even there it's narrowly scoped to decks where the majority of attackers already have flying.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.09 bulk tier
At $0.09, Tide Skimmer is deep bulk — pick it up in any common/uncommon lot and don't give it a second thought on price. Demand is narrow enough that it won't climb, but at this cost it's a free inclusion in any deck that wants it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Kangee, Sky Warden
- Alandra, Sky Dreamer
- Errant and Giada
- Cynette, Jelly Drover
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.