Is Altanak, the Thrice-Called good in Commander?

Altanak, the Thrice-Called

Legendary Creature — Insect Beast

Trample
Whenever Altanak becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, draw a card.
, Discard this card: Return target land card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.

CMC: 7
Mana cost
Color identity: G
Rarity: uncommon
Set: Duskmourn: House of Horror
Price: $0.28
EDHREC rank: #7494

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Altanak, the Thrice-Called) lands as a massive recursive threat that keeps coming back from the graveyard the moment you sacrifice or discard it — the cost is the three-counter setup that means opponents get at least one turn to prepare. The exchange-effect rider, shared with cards like Gauntlets of Chaos, adds a genuinely disruptive political angle that Grist, the Hunger Tide decks exploit to swap unfavorable board states.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

Grist, the Hunger Tide

33.5% of decks · synergy 0.32

Grist, the Hunger Tide's insect-tribal mill engine fills the graveyard fast, and Altanak, the Thrice-Called recurs itself every time Grist sacrifices bugs — the two create a self-sustaining loop of board presence and graveyard recursion that's hard to race.

Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists

28.3% of decks · synergy 0.28

Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists care about big creatures hitting the battlefield repeatedly, and Altanak, the Thrice-Called's self-recursion means it triggers their dinosaur-synergy payoffs turn after turn without needing additional support.

Venom, Deadly Devourer

29.9% of decks · synergy 0.28

Venom, Deadly Devourer rewards stacking -1/-1 counters and sacrificing creatures, so Altanak, the Thrice-Called doubles as a repeatable sacrifice outlet target that keeps returning to fuel more counters and more kills.

Zask, Skittering Swarmlord

28.6% of decks · synergy 0.27

Zask, Skittering Swarmlord's insect-matters payoffs — drawing cards and putting insects into play from the graveyard — apply to Altanak, the Thrice-Called every time it cycles back, turning a single card into a persistent engine piece.

Aatchik, Emerald Radian

14.5% of decks · synergy 0.13

Aatchik, Emerald Radian proliferates counters aggressively, which accelerates the three-counter charge on Altanak, the Thrice-Called and gets it into recursive mode a full turn or two ahead of schedule.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

Format	Verdict
commander	legal
legacy	legal
modern	legal
pioneer	legal
standard	legal
vintage	legal
pauper	not legal
oathbreaker	legal

Commander is where Altanak, the Thrice-Called belongs — the 100-card singleton format gives it the graveyard-matters and sacrifice-synergy shells it needs to shine, and the multiplayer table rewards its exchange ability as a political tool. In competitive 1v1 formats like Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer it's too slow and too setup-dependent; a 6-mana creature that needs counters to recur itself loses badly to the interaction density in those formats. Standard and Vintage are both legal but neither is a realistic home — the card simply doesn't match the speed or the win conditions those formats demand. Oathbreaker is a plausible secondary home if your signature spell supports the graveyard recursion plan, but the power ceiling there is lower than Commander.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

1 decks