Barrow Ghoul
Creature — Zombie
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this creature unless you exile the top creature card of your graveyard.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Weatherlight
- Price
- $0.21
- EDHREC rank
- #27449
Barrow Ghoul is a 3/3 for two mana — above-rate on paper — but it exiles the top card of your library at the start of each upkeep, and that cost compounds fast. Anywhere you can't weaponize the graveyard or the exile zone, Barrow Ghoul is just a slow card-disadvantage engine in a creature suit.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Barrow Ghoul is fringe at best — the self-exile trigger is a serious liability in a format where every card in your 99 needs to pull weight, and a 3/3 body doesn't justify the attrition. Legacy and Vintage have the raw card quality to simply ignore it; no competitive shell there wants a two-mana creature that eats its own library. Pauper is the most realistic home, where above-rate bodies at common are scarcer, but even there Barrow Ghoul competes poorly against aggressive two-drops that don't punish you for goldfishing.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.21 bulk tier
At $0.21, Barrow Ghoul is deep bulk — the kind of card that fills a penny bin, not a trade binder. The price accurately reflects demand: there's no competitive shell hunting for copies, so don't expect movement in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.