Lurking Skirge MTG Card


Lurking Skirge - Urza's Legacy
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityRare
TypeEnchantment
Released1999-02-15
Set symbol
Set nameUrza's Legacy
Set codeULG
Number55
Frame1997
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byDaren Bader

Key Takeaways

  1. Transforming Lurking Skirge into Skirge Familiar optimizes hand utility and potential card advantage.
  2. As Skirge Familiar, it accelerates resources, offering swift spell casting using discarded cards.
  3. Its flexibility to transform on either player’s turn disrupts opponents and enhances your strategy.

Text of card

When a creature is put into one of your opponents' graveyards, if Lurking Skirge is an enchantment, Lurking Skirge becomes a 3/2 creature with flying that counts as an Imp.

They never miss a funeral.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: The transformation of Lurking Skirge into Skirge Familiar grants you access to increased hand utility. Activating the card’s ability to transform by dealing damage offers a rewarding way to generate an edge over your opponent by potentially drawing into more options.

Resource Acceleration: Once transformed into Skirge Familiar, this card provides a consistent form of resource acceleration. Discarding a card gives you an additional black mana, enabling quicker deployment of high-impact spells and overloading opponents before they are prepared.

Instant Speed: Although the initial cast of Lurking Skirge is not at instant speed, its transform condition can be met on either player’s turn. This flexibility allows you to strategize and optimize the timing for your advantage, disrupting opponents’ plays and adjusting to the ever-changing battlefield.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Lurking Skirge’s transformation is contingent upon an additional cost—discarding a card. This can be particularly detrimental if your hand is already depleted or if it forces you to relinquish key cards in your strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s casting cost requires black mana, making it exclusive for black mana decks or those that can reliably generate multiple mana colors, potentially restricting its versatility in a broader range of deck types.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its transformation condition and the upkeep needed to sustain its presence on the battlefield, the cost of Lurking Skirge might overshadow its benefits when compared to other creatures or spells in the same mana range that could provide immediate or more substantial impact.


Reasons to Include Lurking Skirge in Your Collection

Versatility: Lurking Skirge is a card that can adapt to various deck themes due to its unique ability to turn into a creature under certain conditions. Its initial status as an enchantment makes it less susceptible to removal, offering a tactical advantage.

Combo Potential: This card pairs excellently with decks that manipulate the number of swamps on the battlefield, or with strategies that incentivize opponents to overextend, enabling Lurking Skirge to become a creature at an opportune moment.

Meta-Relevance: In a game flush with decks that frequently play numerous lands, Lurking Skirge has the potential to thrive and become a significant threat. Its transformation into an offensive creature aligns well with the current trend of flexible and adaptive gameplay.


How to beat

Lurking Skirge is a unique card in MTG with an ability that can turn the tides of the game upon meeting its transformation condition. This card initially presents itself as an enchantment that blossoms into a flying creature when a player has seven or more lands in play. The transformation from an innocuous enchantment to a threatening creature makes Lurking Skirge a challenge to handle if allowed to activate.

To counter this transformation, a strategy would be to focus on land destruction or control tactics to ensure that your opponent remains below the seven-land threshold. Cards that allow you to remove lands from the game or return them to the player’s hand will be instrumental in keeping Lurking Skirge inert. Moreover, enchantment removal spells are essential for dealing with it before it becomes a creature. Cards like Disenchant or Naturalize can provide an efficient solution to this problem.

Anticipating the potential threat of Lurking Skirge is key to your success on the MTG battlefield. With proactive measures and strategic execution, you can prevent its transformation and maintain a competitive edge, ensuring that Lurking Skirge remains just a lurking threat, rather than an airborne adversary.


Cards like Lurking Skirge

Lurking Skirge stands out in the realm of flip cards within Magic: The Gathering. It begins as an enchantment that, when certain conditions are met, transforms into a flying creature – Skirge Familiar. This mechanic is reminiscent of other transformation cards like Delver of Secrets, which transitions from a humble human wizard into the formidable Insectile Aberration. However, Lurking Skirge requires you to lose a creature in combat, whereas Delver of Secrets changes form by simply revealing an instant or sorcery card.

Other parallel designs include the Hunted Witness, which provides a benefit upon death much like our Lurking Skirge, although it gives you a lifelink token instead of a new creature. Another comparison could be made with Bloodsoaked Champion, which requires an active condition – specifically, attacking – to return it to the battlefield, similar to how Lurking Skirge needs a trigger for its transformation.

Evaluating the nuances of these cards highlights Lurking Skirge’s unique place in strategic deck building. It caters to a playstyle that leverages creature combat and offers a resilient asset that can emerge from the pitfalls of battle, making it a versatile option for players crafting their deck dynamics.

Hunted Witness - MTG Card versions
Bloodsoaked Champion - MTG Card versions
Hunted Witness - Guilds of Ravnica (GRN)
Bloodsoaked Champion - Khans of Tarkir Promos (PKTK)

Cards similar to Lurking Skirge by color, type and mana cost

Bad Moon - MTG Card versions
Fear - MTG Card versions
Warp Artifact - MTG Card versions
Deathgrip - MTG Card versions
Animate Dead - MTG Card versions
Blight - MTG Card versions
Seizures - MTG Card versions
Leshrac's Sigil - MTG Card versions
Lim-Dûl's Hex - MTG Card versions
Dance of the Dead - MTG Card versions
Dark Privilege - MTG Card versions
Enfeeblement - MTG Card versions
Oath of Ghouls - MTG Card versions
Despondency - MTG Card versions
Yawgmoth's Edict - MTG Card versions
Dying Wail - MTG Card versions
Insubordination - MTG Card versions
Mourning - MTG Card versions
Chains of Mephistopheles - MTG Card versions
Tribute to Horobi // Echo of Death's Wail - MTG Card versions
Bad Moon - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Fear - Tenth Edition (10E)
Warp Artifact - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Deathgrip - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Animate Dead - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Blight - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Seizures - Ice Age (ICE)
Leshrac's Sigil - Secret Lair Drop (SLD)
Lim-Dûl's Hex - Ice Age (ICE)
Dance of the Dead - Masters Edition II (ME2)
Dark Privilege - Multiverse Gift Box (MGB)
Enfeeblement - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Oath of Ghouls - Exodus (EXO)
Despondency - Urza's Saga (USG)
Yawgmoth's Edict - Urza's Saga (USG)
Dying Wail - Urza's Destiny (UDS)
Insubordination - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
Mourning - Invasion (INV)
Chains of Mephistopheles - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Tribute to Horobi // Echo of Death's Wail - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Lurking Skirge MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Legacy, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Lurking Skirge and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Lurking Skirge has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Lurking Skirge card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2008-08-01 A noncreature permanent that turns into a creature can attack, and its abilities can be activated, only if its controller has continuously controlled that permanent since the beginning of their most recent turn. It doesn’t matter how long the permanent has been a creature.

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