The Howling Abomination
Legendary Creature — Human Beast Warrior
Haste
The Howling Abomination has trample as long as you've cast three or more spells this turn.
Whenever The Howling Abomination becomes the target of a spell, it gets +2/+2 until end of turn and deals 2 damage to each opponent.
- CMC
- 5
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- GR
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Secret Lair Drop
- Price
- $5.69
- EDHREC rank
- #14022
The Howling Abomination turns every spell you cast into an Impulse, and in a spellslinger deck that volume compounds fast. It's a direct threat to Runaway Steam-Kin's role as the go-to red card-advantage engine — and at its price point, it's an easy include.
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 |
The Howling Abomination is a Commander card first and foremost — the 100-card singleton environment rewards the kind of steady, incremental card advantage it provides over the long games the format demands. In Legacy and Vintage, where the format is legal, it's far too slow and fragile against the interaction density those formats bring. Commander is the only realistic home: spellslinger and tribal shells in red or red-adjacent color identities get the most mileage, and multiplayer games give the effect enough time to generate real value.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
The Howling AbominationRunaway Steam-KinCrown of FlamesBirgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty
Infinite damage; Infinitely large creature until end of turn; Infinite storm count
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Experimental Frenzy fills a similar role for less, letting you play off the top of your library, though it locks you out of your hand entirely — a meaningful trade-off The Howling Abomination doesn't impose. Light Up the Stage is another option that impulses two cards for one mana at instant speed, but it's a one-shot rather than a repeatable engine, so it won't replace what The Howling Abomination does across a full game.
Price Context
Current price
$5.69 mid tier
At $5.69, The Howling Abomination sits in mid-tier pricing — expensive enough to feel like a deliberate inclusion, cheap enough that it's not a budget obstacle for most Commander players. It's a new card with a narrow but real home, so the price should be stable as long as spellslinger builds keep running it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.