Surgespanner

Surgespanner card image

Surgespanner: Creature - Merfolk Wizard, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander. Whenever this creature becomes tapped, you may pay 1U. On Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{2}{U}{U}
Mana value
4
Type
Creature - Merfolk Wizard
Colour identity
Blue (U)
Power / toughness
2/2
Rarity
Rare
Set
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (LCC)
Released
2023-11-17
Collector number
174
Artist
Warren Mahy
Commander rank
8,956 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)

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About Surgespanner

Surgespanner is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare blue creature from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (LCC), a Commander product released in November 2023. It is collector number 174 in that set, with art by Warren Mahy. It costs {2}{U}{U} (two generic and two blue mana) to cast, for a mana value of 4. It is a 2/2 creature. Its colour identity is blue. It is legal in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, PreDH and Penny Dreadful. It has been printed in 2 sets, from Lorwyn (2007) to The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (2023). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.29 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-11).

Card text

Whenever this creature becomes tapped, you may pay {1}{U}. If you do, return target permanent to its owner's hand.

They ride on waves of aether, washing out anything that might pollute the Merrow Lanes.

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.29 (as of 2026-11-11).

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

Format legality

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

ModernLegal
LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PreDHLegal
Penny DreadfulLegal

Other printings of Surgespanner

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

PrintingRarityYear
Lorwyn (LRW) #92Rare2007

Official rulings

Two official rulings apply to Surgespanner, newest first.

  • This is a triggered ability, not an activated ability. It doesn't allow you to tap the creature whenever you want; rather, you need some other way of tapping it, such as by attacking with the creature.
  • For the ability to trigger, the creature has to actually change from untapped to tapped. If an effect attempts to tap the creature, but it was already tapped at the time, this ability won't trigger.

Similar cards

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

In these precons

Surgespanner is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.

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