Giant Shark
Creature — Shark
This creature can't attack unless defending player controls an Island.
Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked by a creature that has been dealt damage this turn, this creature gets +2/+0 and gains trample until end of turn.
When you control no Islands, sacrifice this creature.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The Dark
- Price
- $0.37
- EDHREC rank
- #24958
Giant Shark enters as a 4/4 with ward 2 that can grow whenever you gift it to an opponent — exactly the kind of threat Jon Irenicus, Shattered One wants to weaponize. Five mana for a baseline 4/4 is below rate by itself, so this card lives or dies by the donation engine around it.
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 |
Giant Shark is a Commander card first and almost exclusively — the donation-and-punish angle it fits into barely exists in other formats. In Pauper it's a legal common, but a five-mana 4/4 with ward 2 competes poorly against the format's lean, efficient threats. Legacy and Vintage are legal on paper, but Giant Shark has no business in either. Commander is where the ward-2 clause becomes a genuine tax on opponents trying to remove a creature they didn't ask for, and the counter-accumulation text rewards any deck that hands it around more than once.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.37 bulk tier
At $0.37, Giant Shark is firmly bulk — pick it up without a second thought if the Jon Irenicus shell calls for it. Bulk gift-synergy cards like this rarely spike unless a commander breaks out hard, so don't expect movement.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.