Noxious Ghoul
Creature — Zombie
Whenever this creature or another Zombie enters, all non-Zombie creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $1.17
- EDHREC rank
- #4330
Noxious Ghoul hits the board and immediately threatens to clear every non-Zombie your opponents control whenever another Zombie enters — the -1/-1 stacks fast and kills without spending a card. The cost is five mana and a 3/3 body that does nothing the turn it arrives, so you need a zombie engine already running to justify it.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver generates a steady stream of Decayed Zombie tokens, and each one entering triggers Noxious Ghoul — by the time Wilhelt has been active for two turns, the -1/-1 counters have wiped out most opposing creatures.
Zul Ashur, Lich Lord
Zul Ashur, Lich Lord turns life loss into Zombie production, which chains directly into Noxious Ghoul triggers; the more opponents lose life, the faster the board wipe assembles itself.
Varina, Lich Queen
Varina, Lich Queen attacks and filters through Zombies in hand, putting multiple bodies into play in a single turn and converting each one into a Noxious Ghoul trigger that shrinks everything your opponents have.
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born sacrifices Zombies to grow and untap, and those sacrificed tokens are often replaced by effects that put new Zombies into play — each replacement is another Noxious Ghoul trigger applied to an already-pressured board.
Acererak the Archlich
Acererak the Archlich bounces and replays himself repeatedly while creating Zombie tokens, and every re-entry is a fresh Noxious Ghoul trigger that compounds the -1/-1 drain until nothing non-Zombie survives.
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 | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Noxious Ghoul lives — it's a four-player format with wide creature boards, and a single Zombie-heavy turn can eliminate every meaningful threat across three opponents simultaneously. Legacy and Vintage legality is technically there, but five mana for a slow-burn effect has never competed in those formats and never will. Oathbreaker gives it a narrower window, dependent entirely on whether the signature spell can trigger enough enters to matter in a 20-life game.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.17 cheap tier
At $1.17, Noxious Ghoul sits at the bottom of the budget range for a card that functions as a repeatable board wipe in the right shell. That price is stable — it's a niche Zombie tribal piece with no broad demand outside Commander, so don't expect movement in either direction.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.