Aboleth Spawn
Creature — Fish Horror
Flash
Ward 
Probing Telepathy — Whenever a creature entering under an opponent's control causes a triggered ability of that creature to trigger, you may copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
- Price
- $8.35
- EDHREC rank
- #3766
Aboleth Spawn copies the activated and triggered abilities of any creature your opponents control — for just two mana — making it a flexible, low-cost threat that scales with whatever is scariest at the table. Captain N'ghathrod decks run it as a near-auto-include because milling and stealing are already the plan, and Aboleth Spawn lets you exploit those stolen permanents' own abilities before they even hit your graveyard.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Captain N'ghathrod
Aboleth Spawn slots into Captain N'ghathrod as one of the deck's most efficient pieces: copying the triggered abilities of milled or stolen creatures means you're doubling up on exactly the payoffs the deck is hunting for, at instant speed for two mana.
Umbris, Fear Manifest
Umbris, Fear Manifest exiles opponents' libraries, and Aboleth Spawn can copy the triggered abilities of creatures those opponents no longer control — squeezing extra value out of the fear and exile gameplan without needing the creature to survive.
Gogo, Master of Mimicry
Gogo, Master of Mimicry is built around copying and impersonating, so Aboleth Spawn fits as a redundant effect that layers additional ability copying on top of whatever Gogo is already mimicking.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog decks lean on speed and opportunistic triggers, and Aboleth Spawn provides a cheap, reactive way to steal activated abilities from whatever blockers or threats opponents have developed.
Ephara, God of the Polis
Ephara, God of the Polis rewards playing creatures on each player's turn, and Aboleth Spawn is a two-mana flash creature — it enters on an opponent's turn to trigger Ephara while copying a relevant ability at the same time.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Aboleth Spawn is legal in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but Commander is where it actually sees play. In Legacy and Vintage it competes against a density of broken interaction that makes a two-mana ability-copier too slow and too narrow to matter. Oathbreaker is a reasonable home if your planeswalker's game plan involves copying or stealing, but the format is niche enough that the card's reputation is built almost entirely on EDH tables. In Commander, Aboleth Spawn punches above its cost because multiplayer means there's always something worth copying, and flash lets you wait to see what's most relevant before committing.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Strionic Resonator copies triggered abilities for two mana to activate and is under $1, covering the triggered-ability half of what Aboleth Spawn does without the body or activated-ability clause. Clever Impersonator and Phyrexian Metamorph can clone the whole creature rather than just its abilities — slightly different effect, but in mill and theft decks they often accomplish the same end result at a lower price point, with the trade-off that they don't give you flash-speed ability theft.
Price Context
Current price
$8.35 mid tier
At $8.35, Aboleth Spawn sits in the mid tier — not a casual pickup, but not a budget-breaker either. For a two-mana flash creature with this much text, that price is reasonable and unlikely to collapse given its near-70% inclusion rate in the most popular deck it fits.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Captain N'ghathrod
- Umbris, Fear Manifest
- Gogo, Master of Mimicry
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Ephara, God of the Polis
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.