Howling Banshee
Creature — Spirit
Flying
When this creature enters, each player loses 3 life.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Duel Decks Anthology: Garruk vs. Liliana
- Price
- $0.14
- EDHREC rank
- #24057
Howling Banshee enters and drains each opponent for 3, which in Commander is 9 life off a single ETB trigger — but a 3/3 flier for four mana with no other upside is a bad rate in 2024. The drain is real; the body doesn't justify the slot outside very specific aristocrats or flicker shells.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Howling Banshee earns its keep only in dedicated drain-and-gain or flicker strategies where that ETB fires repeatedly — once is fine, five times is a win condition. In Legacy and Vintage it is unplayable; those formats have no interest in a four-mana 3/3 when the competition starts at Grief and ends at Griselbrand. Modern is technically legal but equally uninterested. Howling Banshee is, in practice, a Commander-only card, and even there it needs a specific home to justify the slot.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.14 bulk tier
At $0.14, Howling Banshee is deep bulk — you're paying essentially nothing for the effect, which is the only real argument for slotting it. Demand is low enough that the price has nowhere meaningful to go, so buy it for the synergy, not for any future upside.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.