Goblin Chainwhirler
Creature — Goblin Warrior
First strike
When this creature enters, it deals 1 damage to each opponent and each creature and planeswalker they control.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Dominaria Promos
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #4631
Goblin Chainwhirler enters and immediately pings every opponent's creature and planeswalker for 1 — wiping token boards, trading up on X/1s, and threatening face all in one ETB. The triple-red cost is the real barrier, but in a mono-red shell it's a clean three-mana 3/3 first striker that earns its slot the moment it lands, and Delina, Wild Mage copying it repeatedly turns that entry ping into a board wipe on a loop.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Delina, Wild Mage
Delina, Wild Mage copies Goblin Chainwhirler on every successful attack trigger, stacking ETB pings that can clear token swarms or whittle down planeswalkers before opponents recover — the non-legendary copies stack the damage independently, so the board-clear scales with each successful roll.
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell turns Goblin Chainwhirler's ETB ping from a token-sweeper into a legitimate threat against real creatures, pumping each instance of that 1-damage ping to 3 and threatening to kill anything with 3 or less toughness across every opponent's board simultaneously.
Muxus, Goblin Grandee
Muxus, Goblin Grandee builds a critical mass of Goblin bodies, and Goblin Chainwhirler slots in as the tribe's best board-control piece — it arrives off a Muxus dump and immediately cleans up any X/1 blockers that might slow the lethal swing.
Clive, Ifrit's Dominant
Clive, Ifrit's Dominant rewards stacking high-power red creatures, and Goblin Chainwhirler's 3/3 first strike body plus guaranteed ETB damage makes it a reliable piece in that aggressive gameplan — the ping clears blockers so Clive's attack triggers resolve cleanly.
Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph
Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph triggers on any source dealing exactly 1 damage to a permanent or player, so Goblin Chainwhirler's ETB ping hitting multiple targets can chain into a burst of Ghyrson triggers — against token-heavy boards it converts a single ETB into several instances of Ghyrson's bonus damage.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Goblin Chainwhirler is a staple of mono-red aggro and Goblin tribal builds — the ETB ping hits all opponents simultaneously, making it far more powerful in a four-player game than in any 1v1 format. In Modern and Pioneer, it saw genuine competitive play in mono-red aggro as both a board sweeper against creature-light strategies and a threat that demanded an answer, though the triple-red pip restricts it to near-exclusively mono-red decks in those formats. Legacy is technically legal but Goblin Chainwhirler doesn't make the cut there — the format moves too fast and the competition for three-drops is too steep. For Commander players, the card's ceiling is highest anywhere you can reliably cast triple-red on curve, which means it rewards dedicated mono-red mana bases over any kind of multicolor shell.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Goblin Chainwhirler isn't currently available here — check Scryfall or Card Kingdom for a live quote. It's seen enough competitive play across multiple formats that foil and promo versions tend to carry a premium, but non-foil copies have historically been easy to find at a low buyout price.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Delina, Wild Mage
- Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
- Muxus, Goblin Grandee
- Clive, Ifrit's Dominant
- Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.