Is Lord Skitter's Butcher good in Commander?

Lord Skitter's Butcher in Commander — Combos, Decks & Price

Lord Skitter's Butcher enters and immediately puts a 1/1 Rat token on the board for each opponent, turning a single cast into a three-token swing in a four-player game. The five-mana cost is steep, but Nim Deathmantle loops and Totentanz, Swarm Piper payoffs make that body count matter enough to justify the slot.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Totentanz, Swarm Piper

75.2% of decks · synergy 0.75

Totentanz, Swarm Piper turns every Rat token Lord Skitter's Butcher produces into a direct threat multiplier — three tokens on entry means three triggers feeding the swarm's anthem and sacrifice synergies.

02

Wick, the Whorled Mind

65.4% of decks · synergy 0.63

Wick, the Whorled Mind copies spells when you cast creatures with the same name, but the real pull is that Lord Skitter's Butcher floods the board with fodder for Wick's sacrifice-and-copy gameplan on a single cast.

03

Karumonix, the Rat King

55.5% of decks · synergy 0.52

Karumonix, the Rat King cares about Rat volume, and Lord Skitter's Butcher drops three of them into play the moment it resolves — that's immediate tribal headcount without chaining multiple spells.

04

Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm

42.0% of decks · synergy 0.39

Ashcoat of the Shadow Swarm pumps all Rats in the graveyard and on board, so the tokens Lord Skitter's Butcher generates go wide and hit harder the turn they appear.

05

Vren, the Relentless

36.9% of decks · synergy 0.36

Vren, the Relentless rewards piling up Rats from multiple sources, and Lord Skitter's Butcher delivers three at once — making it one of the most efficient single-card board contributions in the 99.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

Format	Verdict
commander	legal
legacy	legal
modern	legal
pioneer	legal
standard	legal
vintage	legal
pauper	not legal
oathbreaker	legal

Commander is where Lord Skitter's Butcher does its best work — the opponent count scales the token yield to three in a four-player pod, and Rat tribal has enough critical mass in black to make that immediately relevant. In 60-card competitive formats like Modern and Pioneer, five mana for a 3/2 plus tokens is far too slow; aggressive and midrange decks have closed games before this resolves. Legacy and Vintage have no interest at this mana cost. Standard is technically legal, and against three opponents in a casual game it generates reasonable value, but the format rewards efficiency this card doesn't offer.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

292 decks

Nim Deathmantle Ashnod's AltarLord Skitter's Butcher

Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

$0.36 bulk tier

At $0.36, Lord Skitter's Butcher is deep bulk — a zero-friction pickup for any Rat deck that wants it. Bulk rares at this synergy level rarely spike unless a new pushed commander drags the whole tribe up, so grab it cheap and don't expect the price to move.