Is Scrap Trawler legal in Standard, Modern, and Commander?

Scrap Trawler is legal in: Modern, Pioneer, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Historic.

Scrap Trawler

Q: What type of card is Scrap Trawler?

Scrap Trawler is an Artifact Creature — Construct. Its oracle text reads: "Whenever this creature dies or another artifact you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return to your hand target artifact card in your graveyard with lesser mana value. Power/Toughness: 3/2"

Artifact Creature — Construct

Whenever this creature dies or another artifact you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return to your hand target artifact card in your graveyard with lesser mana value.

Power/Toughness: 3/2

Set March of the Machine Commander

Rarity Rare

Mana Value 3

Artist Daarken

Collector # 373

Scryfall

Standard	Not legal
Pioneer	Legal
Modern	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Commander	Legal
Pauper	Not legal
Historic	Legal

Why Play Scrap Trawler

Artifact-based decks benefit enormously from the recurring value engine that Scrap Trawler provides, turning every sacrificed or destroyed artifact into card advantage. The trigger works both when Scrap Trawler itself dies and when any other artifact you control hits the graveyard, making it excellent in decks that naturally sacrifice artifacts for value or face heavy removal. Deploy it in midgame scenarios where you can immediately benefit from the recursion, particularly when you have cheap artifacts in your graveyard ready to return.

Format Notes

Commander represents the strongest format for Scrap Trawler, where artifact-focused decks like those helmed by Urza, Lord High Artificer or Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain can abuse its recursive abilities over longer games. Modern occasionally sees play in fringe artifact combo decks, though it faces stiff competition from more explosive options. The card has never faced banning issues and maintains steady relevance in casual artifact strategies across multiple formats.

Combos & Synergies

Krark-Clan Ironworks creates a powerful engine where you can sacrifice artifacts for mana while getting them back to hand, enabling explosive turns and potential infinite loops. Goblin Engineer pairs excellently by putting artifacts directly into your graveyard while searching up Scrap Trawler itself. Chromatic Star and similar cheap artifacts with death triggers become repeatable value pieces, letting you draw cards while building your recursive chain.