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Great Whale

Creature — Whale

When this creature enters, untap up to seven lands.

CMC
7
Mana cost
{5}{U}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
rare
Set
Urza's Saga
Price
$24.80
EDHREC rank
#11463
Buy on TCGplayer
Great Whale card art
Great Whale enters and untaps up to seven lands, effectively paying for itself and leaving mana open — on a 5/5 body. Pair it with Deadeye Navigator and the loop is infinite mana, infinite ETBs, and whatever payoff you've stapled to that engine.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Great Whale lives. The format's slower pace lets a seven-mana creature resolve, and the ETB untap effect scales with every land-heavy or blink-heavy deck in the format. Legacy and Vintage both allow it, but seven mana on a vanilla-statted creature is nowhere near competitive in those formats — it simply doesn't see play. Great Whale is a Commander card through and through.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Palinchron fills the same role almost exactly — it untaps seven lands on entry, goes infinite with the same blink and bounce loops, and is the direct spiritual successor — but it's similarly priced or more expensive. Peregrine Drake untaps five lands instead of seven, costs two mana less, and completes the same Deadeye Navigator combo; it's the clear budget substitute if Great Whale is out of reach.

Price Context

Current price

$24.80 premium tier

At $24.80, Great Whale sits in premium territory — driven entirely by its role as a combo piece in Commander. The price is stable given that the Deadeye Navigator loop remains one of the most popular infinite-mana lines in the format, so don't expect it to drift much lower.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.