Guardian Scalelord

Guardian Scalelord card image

Guardian Scalelord: Creature - Dragon, Secrets of Strixhaven Commander. MTG card printings, market prices, rulings, and format legality on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{4}{W}
Mana value
5
Type
Creature - Dragon
Colour identity
White (W)
Power / toughness
3/4
Rarity
Rare
Set
Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC)
Released
2026-04-24
Collector number
149
Artist
Victor Adame Minguez
Commander rank
4,702 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
Keywords
Backup, Flying

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About Guardian Scalelord

Guardian Scalelord is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare white creature from Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (SOC), a Commander product released in April 2026. It is collector number 149 in that set, with art by Victor Adame Minguez. It costs {4}{W} (four generic and one white mana) to cast, for a mana value of 5. It is a 3/4 creature. Its colour identity is white. It is legal in Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Historic, Timeless and Gladiator. It has been printed in 2 sets, from March of the Machine Commander (2023) to Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (2026). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.38 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-12).

Card text

Backup 1 (When this creature enters, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. If that's another creature, it gains the following abilities until end of turn.)

Flying

Whenever this creature attacks, return target nonland permanent card with mana value X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is this creature's power.

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.38 (as of 2026-11-12).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of Guardian Scalelord by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
BrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
TimelessLegal
GladiatorLegal

Other printings of Guardian Scalelord

Guardian Scalelord has been printed in 2 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

PrintingRarityYear
March of the Machine Commander (MOC) #103Rare2023
March of the Machine Commander (MOC) #16Rare2023

Official rulings

Five official rulings apply to Guardian Scalelord, newest first.

  • Backup confers only abilities that are actually printed below it. Any abilities that are gained by the permanent are ignored, including abilities gained due to a resolving spell or ability or copy effects.
  • If a backup ability causes another creature to gain abilities, the creature with backup will still have those abilities.
  • If a backup ability targets the creature with backup, that creature will get +1/+1 counters, but it won't gain additional abilities.
  • If a permanent enters the battlefield as a copy of a card with a backup ability or a token is created that is a copy of that card, the order of the printed abilities is maintained.
  • The abilities that backup grants to the target creature are determined only once, at the time the ability triggers. They won't change if the permanent with backup loses any abilities before the backup ability resolves.

Similar cards

Other creature cards with a white colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

In these precons

Guardian Scalelord is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.

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