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Surrak and Goreclaw

Legendary Creature — Human Bear

Trample
Other creatures you control have trample.
Whenever another nontoken creature you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on it. It gains haste until end of turn.

CMC
6
Mana cost
{4}{G}{G}
Color identity
G
Rarity
rare
Set
March of the Machine
Price
$13.09
EDHREC rank
#1576
Buy on TCGplayer
Surrak and Goreclaw card art
Surrak and Goreclaw turns every creature spell into a cost reduction and a haste enabler simultaneously, making it one of the most efficient green beatdown engines at five mana. It slots cleanly into Selvala, Heart of the Wilds decks hungry for cost reduction and into Ayula, Queen Among Bears lists that want to dump bears ahead of schedule.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Ayula, Queen Among Bears

Ayula, Queen Among Bears

71.2% of decks · synergy 0.60

Ayula, Queen Among Bears runs Surrak and Goreclaw at a 71% clip because cost reduction on bear tribal is a direct speed multiplier — getting Ayula's triggers online a full turn earlier compounds quickly when every bear entering the battlefield generates another one.

02
Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh

Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh

43.5% of decks · synergy 0.43

Cleopatra, Exiled Pharaoh is building a wide board of token creatures and needs them attacking the turn they arrive; Surrak and Goreclaw's haste anthem solves that problem while shaving mana off the expensive top end Cleopatra lists tend to run.

03
Helga, Skittish Seer

Helga, Skittish Seer

39.3% of decks · synergy 0.36

Helga, Skittish Seer cares about power 4 or greater creatures resolving, and Surrak and Goreclaw's cost reduction lets Helga pilots hit those thresholds a turn earlier while granting haste so the newly discounted threats pressure opponents immediately.

04
Nikya of the Old Ways

Nikya of the Old Ways

40.0% of decks · synergy 0.36

Nikya of the Old Ways locks out noncreature spells, so every piece of value in the deck must come stapled to a creature body — Surrak and Goreclaw's cost reduction and haste grant are exactly the kind of creature-attached acceleration that Nikya lists depend on.

05
Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma

Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma

42.0% of decks · synergy 0.30

Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma already discounts power-4-or-greater creatures and wants to swing in every turn; Surrak and Goreclaw stacks a second layer of cost reduction and adds haste, meaning the deck's threats hit the battlefield and attack in the same turn with startling regularity.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is the format Surrak and Goreclaw was built for — a five-mana legendary that rewards you for chaining large creatures is exactly the kind of value engine that thrives over a long multiplayer game. In Modern and Pioneer it's legal but essentially irrelevant; five mana for a 5/5 that doesn't close the game by itself isn't competitive in those formats when cheaper, more focused threats exist. Legacy and Vintage have the same problem compounded by the broken fast mana and combo decks those formats enable, so Surrak and Goreclaw never sees serious play there. Oathbreaker is a viable home if you build around a green planeswalker that wants large creatures in play, though the 20-life starting total compresses how much that cost reduction matters.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma does roughly half the job — it discounts power-4-or-greater creatures and gives them trample, but skips the haste grant and costs three mana less, making it a real option if you only need the ramp side of the equation. If haste is the piece you actually want, Rhythm of the Wild and Fires of Yavimaya are both sub-$2 enchantments that spread haste across your whole board without requiring a five-mana creature in play, though neither staples cost reduction on top.

Price Context

Current price

$13.09 mid tier

At $13.09, Surrak and Goreclaw sits in the mid tier — expensive enough to feel like a deliberate inclusion but not so scarce that prices spike unpredictably. The card does enough work across multiple green archetypes that the price is justified for anyone building Ayula, bears tribal, or any creature-heavy Gruul shell.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.