Shelob, Dread Weaver
Legendary Creature — Spider Demon
Whenever a nontoken creature an opponent controls dies, exile it.
, Put a creature card exiled with Shelob into its owner's graveyard: Put two +1/+1 counters on Shelob. Draw a card.
: Put target creature card with mana value X exiled with Shelob onto the battlefield tapped under your control.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Tales of Middle-earth Commander
- Price
- $3.89
- EDHREC rank
- #5646
Shelob, Dread Weaver turns every creature that dies into a 2/2 Spider token with deathtouch and reach — on any player's turn — while also converting non-Spider creatures in any graveyard into Food tokens your opponents can't crack without paying life. The cost is a five-mana legendary that does nothing the turn it enters; Shelob, Child of Ungoliant is the cleaner standalone threat, but Dread Weaver's passive graveyard tax and token engine justify the slot in any deck that already wants the name on the battlefield.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Shelob, Child of Ungoliant
Shelob, Child of Ungoliant is the obvious home — Shelob, Dread Weaver shares the legendary name, which lets Child of Ungoliant pump it with the Ring's temptation trigger, and the two together turn every combat step into a graveyard-filling, token-generating engine that compounds fast.
Sauron, Lord of the Rings
Sauron, Lord of the Rings runs a Wraith-tribal shell that stacks the Ring's temptation on multiple creatures each turn, and Shelob, Dread Weaver's ability to convert dead creatures across all graveyards means Sauron's forced-attack gameplan never runs dry on board presence.
Thantis, the Warweaver
Thantis, the Warweaver forces every opponent to attack every turn, which guarantees a steady stream of dying creatures — exactly the condition Shelob, Dread Weaver needs to flood the board with deathtouch tokens while locking opponents' graveyards behind a life payment.
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 Shelob, Dread Weaver lives — four opponents means four graveyards taxed and multiple combat steps generating tokens each turn, scaling in a way a one-on-one game never replicates. In Legacy and Vintage it's technically legal but competes with formats that move too fast for a five-mana do-nothing-immediately threat with no protection, so it won't see competitive play there. Oathbreaker is the one other format worth mentioning: if your planeswalker supports a token or graveyard theme, Shelob, Dread Weaver as a signature spell or maindeck piece has real legs at the smaller table size.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$3.89 cheap tier
At $3.89, Shelob, Dread Weaver sits in the cheap tier — low enough that including it in any Spider or Ring-temptation build is a no-brainer budget decision. It sees a 75% inclusion rate in Shelob, Child of Ungoliant decks, which keeps steady demand on it; don't expect significant price movement either direction, but you're not overpaying at current.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.