Terror of the Peaks
Creature — Dragon
Flying
Spells your opponents cast that target this creature cost an additional 3 life to cast.
Whenever another creature you control enters, this creature deals damage equal to that creature's power to any target.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- mythic
- Set
- Outlaws of Thunder Junction
- Price
- $46.34
- EDHREC rank
- #511
Terror of the Peaks turns every creature entering the battlefield into a removal spell or a clock — at five mana you get a 5/4 flyer that punishes opponents just for you playing the game normally. In something like The Ur-Dragon, where dragons are dropping constantly, the damage stacks faster than most tables expect; in Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink, copying a big creature means the trigger fires multiple times and opponents die to incidental damage before combat even starts.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
The Ur-Dragon
The Ur-Dragon's eminence ability gets dragons into play ahead of curve, and every one of those dragons triggers Terror of the Peaks on entry — a five-drop Ur-Dragon deck that hits six consecutive dragons has already dealt 30 or more damage before a single attack.
Rivaz of the Claw
Rivaz of the Claw recurs dragons from the graveyard and gives them haste, so Terror of the Peaks fires repeatedly through a single turn; every recursive threat is also a damage trigger, which means Rivaz turns the graveyard into a ping engine.
Lathliss, Dragon Queen
Lathliss, Dragon Queen creates token Dragons whenever a non-token Dragon enters, so each real dragon entering fires Terror of the Peaks once for itself and then again for the token Lathliss creates — doubling the trigger count off a single cast.
Muddle, the Ever-Changing
Muddle, the Ever-Changing morphs into different legendary creatures throughout the game, and each transformation is a new creature entering the battlefield, so Terror of the Peaks converts every identity shift into a direct-damage event without any additional investment.
Norin the Wary
Norin the Wary exiles and returns to the battlefield almost every turn cycle by design, which means Terror of the Peaks fires on Norin's re-entry over and over — a one-mana commander turning into a repeatable ping on every player's turn is exactly the attrition engine Norin decks want.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Terror of the Peaks earns its price tag — 40 life totals mean you need volume of triggers, and any deck that floods the board with creatures converts Terror into a win condition rather than a value piece. In Modern and Pioneer it's legal but fighting uphill: five mana is a lot in those formats, creature-based damage strategies have faster options, and the card rarely shows up competitively. Legacy and Vintage have the raw power to support a five-drop threat, but Terror of the Peaks simply isn't what those formats are doing. Oathbreaker is a reasonable home for the same reasons Commander is — it rewards decks that chain creature entries and can close games through accumulated damage.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Miirym, Sentinel WyrmBladewing the RisenTerror of the Peaks
Infinite LTB; Infinite ETB; Infinite death triggers; Infinite damage; Infinite creature tokens
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Warstorm Surge does essentially the same thing as Terror of the Peaks for the same mana, trades the 5/4 flying body for an enchantment that's harder to kill with creature removal, and costs under a dollar — the trade-off is that enchantment wraths hit it and it doesn't attack. Where Is My Mind? and similar enter-the-battlefield damage payoffs exist at low price points, but none replicate the combination of a relevant body and a triggered damage source that Terror of the Peaks provides in a single card.
Price Context
Current price
$46.34 premium tier
At $46.34, Terror of the Peaks sits firmly in the premium tier — you're paying for a card that appears in nearly 60% of Ur-Dragon decks and has proven itself as a multi-format staple across years of Commander. It holds value well because the demand is real and broad, not format-specific, though any reprint could soften the price.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.