Subterranean Shambler
Creature — Elemental
Echo 
(At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, sacrifice it unless you pay its echo cost.)
When this creature enters or leaves the battlefield, it deals 1 damage to each creature without flying.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Time Spiral
- Price
- $0.12
- EDHREC rank
- #30013
Subterranean Shambler enters and hits every non-Elemental creature on the board for 1 damage — a built-in pseudo-Pyroclasm strapped to a 4/3 body for five mana. It's a niche hoser that earns its slot only when you're building around Elementals and need cheap sweeper coverage against token swarms.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Subterranean Shambler is a role-player exclusively in Elemental tribal decks — the 1-damage ETB is real board control against token strategies and mana dorks, and the immunity clause protecting your own Elementals is the whole reason to run it over a generic wrath effect. Outside of that tribe, five mana for a 4/3 with marginal reach isn't pulling weight at a 100-card table. In Pauper, where it's legal, the format's efficient creatures and lack of tribal Elemental infrastructure make it too slow and too conditional to compete. Legacy and Vintage have no interest in a five-mana creature whose effect doesn't end games.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.12 bulk tier
At $0.12, Subterranean Shambler is deep bulk — you're paying almost nothing for a card that fills a narrow tribal slot. It won't appreciate; the demand ceiling is too low and the supply too wide, so grab it for the penny bin and don't think twice about the cost.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.