Skarrgan Firebird (Original Art)

A favorite from the personal collection. Purely from an art perspective, Walker's blaze of fire trailing from the silhouetted bird figure’s wings is simply equisite. Skarrgan Firebird is a six mana 3/3 flying red Phoenix originally printed in Guildpact with the Bloodthirst 3 ability. This creature comes into play with three +1/+1 counters on it if an opponent was dealt damage that turn. The RRR activation to return it from the graveyard makes the card a repeatable threat for decks that can reliably deal an opponent damage that turn. Bloodthirst 3 can turn it into a 6/6 flyer which is a nice tempo swing for red aggro/value decks that can set up the condition. This card sees most of its play in Commander and casual cube decks as a flying, recurrent threat in red graveyard/phoenix builds. Skarrgan Firebird is legal in Modern, Legacy and Vintage, but it’s effectively a fringe choice there and considered more as a casual card. It has no meaningful competitive presence in these formats because it’s too conditional and slow to compete with the faster, more consistent threats. Skarrgan Firebird is not on the Reserved List.