Is Shriekmaw good in Commander?

Shriekmaw in Commander — Combos, Decks & Price

Shriekmaw kills a nonartifact, nonblack creature the moment it enters — and if five mana is too steep, you can evoke it for two and still get the removal, just without keeping the body. Ashling, the Limitless and every other evoke-matters or enters-triggers commander treat this as a removal spell that doubles as a reusable threat.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01

Ashling, the Limitless

74.3% of decks · synergy 0.71

Ashling, the Limitless copies evoke triggers, so Shriekmaw eoked for two mana kills two creatures instead of one — that's a removal spell that scales with the engine rather than sitting flat.

02

Rakdos, the Muscle

72.6% of decks · synergy 0.70

Rakdos, the Muscle rewards sacrifice, and Shriekmaw evoked is a creature that kills something and then immediately dies on purpose, feeding both the removal quota and the sacrifice quota in one card.

03

Bane, Lord of Darkness cares about creatures dying, and Shriekmaw delivers two death events when evoked — the target it removes and itself — while also being a recastable threat when you have the full five mana.

04

Sefris of the Hidden Ways

40.4% of decks · synergy 0.39

Sefris of the Hidden Ways triggers on creatures entering the graveyard from anywhere, so Shriekmaw evoked puts a creature in the yard immediately and stocks the dungeon-diving engine without any extra setup.

05

Mirko, Obsessive Theorist

38.7% of decks · synergy 0.37

Mirko, Obsessive Theorist mills and recurs creatures from graveyards, and Shriekmaw is exactly the kind of enter-the-battlefield removal piece that gets better every time it cycles back into play.

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	not legal
oathbreaker	legal

Commander is where Shriekmaw earns its reputation — evoke synergies, flicker loops, and sacrifice engines all turn a two-mana removal spell into a repeatable engine piece. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but rarely played, outclassed by faster interaction that doesn't require a creature slot. Modern has better options at the same cost, though evoke decks that care about the creature type or death trigger will occasionally reach for it. Oathbreaker mirrors Commander's logic: if your planeswalker generates value from creatures entering or dying, Shriekmaw is worth the slot.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.93 bulk tier

At $0.93, Shriekmaw sits in bulk territory despite seeing consistent Commander play — it's been reprinted enough times to keep the price flat. Pick it up freely; there's no price risk here, and it overperforms its cost in any deck that cares about evoke or enters-the-battlefield effects.