Shambling Goblin
Creature — Zombie Goblin
When this creature dies, target creature an opponent controls gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Jumpstart
- Price
- $0.09
- EDHREC rank
- #20625
Shambling Goblin trades itself for a -1/-1 counter on any creature an opponent controls when it dies — a speed bump that occasionally kills a utility creature, but never a threat on its own. It's a role-player in sacrifice-matters shells and nowhere else.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Shambling Goblin is a fringe Pauper card at best, where cheap sacrifice fodder has competitive applications in aristocrats or Goblin-synergy builds, though even there it competes with more impactful one-drops. In Commander, it shows up almost exclusively in Goblin tribal or sacrifice-value decks that need bodies to feed an altar or trigger an aristocrat — Krenko, Mob Boss lists generally ignore it in favor of token producers, while Wort, Boggart Auntie shells occasionally find use for it. Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer have no realistic home for a 1/1 with a death trigger this minor. Pauper is its strongest format by a wide margin, but even there it's a niche inclusion rather than a staple.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.09 bulk tier
At $0.09, Shambling Goblin is pure bulk — you'll find it in a common box long before you'd buy a single copy online. The price won't move; demand is too narrow and supply too deep for any meaningful shift.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.