Star Whale
Creature — Alien Whale
Flying, vigilance
Other creatures you control have ward 
.
Suspend 6—
(Rather than cast this card from your hand, you may pay and exile it with six time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, you may cast it without paying its mana cost. It has haste.)
- CMC
- 8
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Doctor Who
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #5811
Star Whale lands as a 16/16 that costs nothing if you control a legendary creature — one of the most absurd stat-to-mana ratios in the game when the condition is met. The Tenth Doctor // Rose Tyler is the natural home, and outside of dedicated legendary-creature builds the free cast is often unavailable, making it a ten-mana brick in the wrong deck.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
The Tenth Doctor // Rose Tyler
The Tenth Doctor // Rose Tyler is the definitive Star Whale commander — the Doctor's triggered ability fires off the free cast, and a 16/16 trampler entering the battlefield is exactly the kind of splashy event the deck wants to generate value from. Nearly 79% of Tenth Doctor lists include it, which is as close to consensus as EDH gets.
Marvo, Deep Operative
Marvo, Deep Operative runs Star Whale as a top-end threat that rewards the deck's devotion to casting spells from unusual zones — getting a 16/16 for free off a cascade or manifest chain is the kind of tempo swing Marvo, Deep Operative is built to engineer.
Alaundo the Seer
Alaundo the Seer suspends spells and removes time counters at scale, so Star Whale enters off Alaundo the Seer's engine without ever paying the ten-mana sticker price — just load it into the queue and let the untap triggers do the work.
Jhoira of the Ghitu
Jhoira of the Ghitu suspends Star Whale for two generic mana and four turns, turning a ten-drop into a trivially cheap threat — Jhoira of the Ghitu has been exploiting this trick since suspend was first printed, and Star Whale's raw size makes it one of the better payoffs.
Obeka, Splitter of Seconds
Obeka, Splitter of Seconds manipulates end steps and upkeep triggers, which creates opportunities to cheat time counters off suspended permanents — Star Whale becomes a recurrent free threat whenever Obeka, Splitter of Seconds is doing its thing.
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 Star Whale actually lives — legendary commanders are everywhere, the free-cast condition is easy to meet, and a 16/16 trampler closes games fast enough to justify the slot. Legacy and Vintage are technically legal formats for Star Whale, but neither wants a ten-mana creature that requires a legendary creature on board when faster, unconditional threats exist at every cost. Oathbreaker is the one non-Commander 60-card adjacent format worth mentioning: the planeswalker oathbreaker is always legendary, so the free cast is guaranteed on your turn, making Star Whale a surprisingly clean fit in that niche.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Pricing data for Star Whale isn't currently available in the system, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for the latest numbers before buying. Given its narrow home in legendary-creature builds and its Doctor Who set origin, supply and demand tend to be tightly coupled to Tenth Doctor deck popularity — worth verifying current stock if you're picking one up for a build.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- The Tenth Doctor // Rose Tyler
- Marvo, Deep Operative
- Alaundo the Seer
- Jhoira of the Ghitu
- Obeka, Splitter of Seconds
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.