Howl from Beyond
Instant
Target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Classic Sixth Edition
- Price
- $0.08
- EDHREC rank
- #14385
Howl from Beyond dumps a creature's power through the roof for a single turn — pay X mana, swing for lethal, win on the spot. The catch is you're spending your whole turn on a non-permanent that disappears immediately, which is why it lives almost exclusively in Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon decks where 10 poison counters end the game before the card disadvantage catches up.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon only needs to connect for 10 infect damage to kill a player, and Howl from Beyond turns any mid-game swing into a one-shot — pump for 7 or 8 in the late game and even a blocker-heavy board folds to a single unblocked hit.
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, Howl from Beyond is a finisher spell for infect and voltron strategies, where one giant unblocked hit closes the game and sorcery-speed efficiency matters less than raw ceiling. Pauper is where it sees the most competitive play, slotting into pump-based combo kills where the common restriction makes instant-speed +X/+0 effects scarce. Legacy and Vintage have it legal but completely ignore it — better redundancy exists at every mana cost. Howl from Beyond is also legal in Oathbreaker, where a 20-life format and a more accessible commander make the one-shot math easier to hit.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.08 bulk tier
At $0.08, Howl from Beyond is deep bulk — a card you pick out of a commons box, not one you track down. Expect it to stay at this floor indefinitely; there's no casual or competitive demand driver that would move the needle.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.