Goblin War Drums
Enchantment
Creatures you control have menace. (They can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Fallen Empires
- Price
- $0.23
- EDHREC rank
- #4797
Goblin War Drums gives your whole team menace for two mana — that's a repeatable, board-wide evasion effect at an absurd rate. It's a staple in any red aggro shell that wants to push through blockers, and Magar of the Magic Strings treats it as a cheap, recurrable piece of the damage-dealing puzzle.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Magar of the Magic Strings
Magar of the Magic Strings copies instants and sorceries onto creatures, so Goblin War Drums does double duty as a cheap spell to exile and a permanent that keeps the board evasive while Magar's copies go wide.
Gornog, the Red Reaper
Gornog, the Red Reaper rewards you for connecting with combat damage, and Goblin War Drums turns every attacker into a menace threat that forces opponents into bad blocks or takes the hit.
Wort, Boggart Auntie
Wort, Boggart Auntie runs a Goblin tribal package where punching through stalled boards is the core problem, and Goblin War Drums solves it at two mana without eating a creature slot.
Krenko, Mob Boss
Krenko, Mob Boss generates tokens faster than opponents can block them, and Goblin War Drums converts that mass of 1/1s into a menace army that demands two blockers per attacker — usually impossible to answer at scale.
General Kreat, the Boltbringer
General Kreat, the Boltbringer wants creatures to connect reliably to trigger bolt effects, and Goblin War Drums gives the whole team menace to make those connections happen consistently.
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 |
Goblin War Drums is a Commander card through and through — the effect scales with the number of attackers you control, and token-generating red commanders turn it into a board-wide menace enabler that warps combat math. In Pauper it's legal but rarely played, since the format's creature density can make menace useful in theory, but two mana for a non-creature enchantment is a slow rate for that format's pace. Legacy and Vintage allow it, but neither format has a shell that wants a slow enchantment for combat evasion when the game ends faster. Goblin War Drums is exactly as good as your creature count — in Commander, that ceiling is high.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.23 bulk tier
At $0.23, Goblin War Drums is deep bulk — you're paying for a functional, repeatable effect at essentially no cost. Bulk enchantments with a clear tribal home tend to sit in this range indefinitely, so there's no urgency either way; just pick it up alongside your next order.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Magar of the Magic Strings
- Gornog, the Red Reaper
- Wort, Boggart Auntie
- Krenko, Mob Boss
- General Kreat, the Boltbringer
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.