Impaler Shrike
Creature — Phyrexian Bird
Flying
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may sacrifice it. If you do, draw three cards.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- New Phyrexia
- Price
- $0.10
- EDHREC rank
- #19667
Impaler Shrike connects once and replaces itself with three cards — that's the whole pitch. The cost is a fragile 2/1 flying body that dies to a stiff breeze and needs to actually deal combat damage to pay off.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Araumi of the Dead Tide
Araumi of the Dead Tide's encore ability puts three copies of Impaler Shrike into play attacking simultaneously, which means a single turn of unblocked hits draws nine cards before the tokens exile themselves at end of turn.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Impaler Shrike is a niche inclusion — most blue decks would rather run a draw spell that doesn't depend on combat damage, but reanimator and aristocrat shells that already have evasion infrastructure get real mileage from it. Pauper is the format where it sees the most honest competition, and even there a three-mana 2/1 that needs to connect is a liability against any removal-heavy opponent. Legacy and Vintage have enough raw card advantage that Impaler Shrike never registers. It's a Commander-or-nothing card, and within Commander it's a build-around piece, not a generic include.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.10 bulk tier
At $0.10, Impaler Shrike is deep bulk — you're essentially getting it for free in any trade binder or bulk lot. That price is stable because demand is narrow and supply is plentiful; don't expect it to move.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.