First printed in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander (2023)
Legendary Creature — Vampire Soldier
Flying
Whenever a player sacrifices a permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on Carmen and you gain 1 life.
Whenever Carmen attacks, return up to one target permanent card with mana value less than or equal to Carmen's power from your graveyard to the battlefield.
2/2
- Illustrated by
- Randy Vargas
Legality
- Legal in
- Legacy, Vintage, Penny Dreadful, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker
- Not legal in
- Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Pauper, Future Standard, Historic, Timeless, Alchemy, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Gladiator, Pauper Commander, PreDH, Tiny Leaders, Brawl, Standard Brawl, Competitive Brawl
Rulings (3)
- If a permanent is sacrificed to pay a cost of a spell or ability, Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher's second ability will resolve before that spell or ability. Conversely, if a permanent is sacrificed during the resolution of a spell or ability, that spell or ability will finish resolving before Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher's second ability is put onto the stack.
- If another effect causes Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher's power to be less than the mana value of the target card as its last ability tries to resolve, the target is illegal. You won't return the target card to the battlefield.
- If you sacrifice Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher, its second ability will still trigger.
Prices
MTGO price: 0.01 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 1 Nov 2026).
Combos
130 combos, the most popular first:
- Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature, Infinite artifact ETB…: Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher + Pitiless Plunderer + Reassembling Skeleton + Warren Soultrader
- Infinite creature LTB, Infinite creature ETB…: Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher + Gravecrawler + Warren Soultrader
- Infinite card draw, Infinite draw triggers…: Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher + Pawn of Ulamog + Yawgmoth, Thran Physician (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature, Infinite creature ETB…: Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher + Phyrexian Altar + Veinwitch Coven (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature, Infinite creature ETB…: Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher + Phyrexian Altar + Veinwitch Coven (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite artifact ETB, Infinite artifact LTB…: Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Warren Soultrader (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite artifact ETB, Infinite artifact LTB…: Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher + Edgar Markov + Oathsworn Vampire + Warren Soultrader
- Infinite creature LTB, Infinite creature ETB…: Ashnod's Altar + Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher + Ghave, Guru of Spores
- Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature, Infinite combat damage…: Breath of Fury + Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher
- Infinite card draw, Infinite draw triggers…: Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher + Yawgmoth, Thran Physician + Zahur, Glory's Past (+ 1 other requirement)